Tuntematon sotilas

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.

I watched the 3 hour movie version first and I didn't understand half of what was going on due to there being a TON of characters and Finnish names that I have trouble remembering.

I also didn't know much about the Fin war against Russia so did some research on it.

But, I read the novel by Vaino Linna. Helped me to understand what was going on in here. I loved the book, was a blast to read. I had to write down all the character names to remember, but it helped a lot.

This version follows the book very closely too, down to exact quotes. The book however doesn't show what each character did on leave, so this added a bit there.

I have not seen the 1955 or 1980's version of The Unknown Soldier as I have had great difficulty in finding them... but I was told they are not as faithful to the book.

This mini series has it all. The brotherhood, the family, blood, sweat and tears. A reality where no character is ever safe. Nail biting scenes, beautifully portrayed. This is a series to be remembered.

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.

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.