Tuntematon sotilas

I feel urged to rewiew this mini series due to the fact that an 2 hour 15 minutes version (edited from this mini series) was released in 2018 and that was just a pale version of this masterpiece. If someone have seen that movie - forget it! This is the what you should watch! Here it is no heroes, no glory. Just pure realism who mirrors the life in northern Finland and Sovjet in the 40's, shows the horrors of war, but also the friendship between the soldiers. I'm 58 and have waited all my life for a worthy filming of Väinö Linnas Tuntematon Sotilas (Unknown Soldier) from 1954. That book is said to be the second most read book after the bible. Personal I equals this series with Band Of Brothers in quality and realism.

1941, the finnish army is on the offensive.

A year after fighting a legendary war against the invading russians, the finns take to the offensive as Nazi Germany and the axis powers invade USSR in the largest invasion in the history of the world.

We follow the finnish army pushing into Russia and then follow the same troops as they retreat back towards Finland three years later.

The action is very good, the character developement is very good, the acting is very good.

At times it's moving, grizzly and even slightly absurd.

This is basically Band of Brothers on the russian/finnish front.

Very good.

Watch it!

I don't normally bother writing reviews, as scores speak for themselves, however, this is an exception.

This is a gritty and down to earth realistic look at warfare. No plot armor, no heroes, just people surviving the hells of war as best they can. It gives a unglamorous look into what normal people go through on the front line.

Without going into details, I can without a shadow of doubt say this is up there with BoB and other such series. The cast is phenomenal in every aspect. They feel like real people living in real circumstances.

It's just long enough to give the impact it needs to. Being based of real accounts and giving the material the honor it deserves really shows through the runtime.

From the first scene to the last, it's sneaked it's way into my top 10 of all time series up there with BoB, The Pacific etc. Feels like a Finnish Stalingrad of Iron Cross. If you have 5 hours to live, this isn't a terrible choice of viewing material and really delivers a memorable performance you wont soon forget.

I went and saw the movie few years back and thought it was good but for example the lines of the characters were cut so much you couldn't feel bond with them at all. This mini series however was perfect of telling a bit more of the characters which gave a more immerse feeling to the story. I only wished they released this series FIRST and not the movie. This would have reached more audiences that way. Anyway I'm super glad they released this since this is one of the best WW2 series released. Highly recommend watching this over the movie on Netflix.

This series is a gem, realistic, exciting, sadnes, hope - and more... Magic schenery and great actors, i hawe been few times in Finnish woods and i swear i could smell them.-thats how good the cinematiography is. And of course ; Hollywood war movies cant really get too this "realistic level" - its culture i think - i guess war isnt a sports-event, and here you cant tell what everyone is going too say ore mimic; ore not say - a finnish thing so on the spot in my opinion.