Poika ja ilves

I just finished watching the film for a second time and still think it was quite a good one. The plot is reasonably good, the acting is average or better, the scenery is splendid. The presence of a lynx is a big bonus. Nature films are not too common.

The movie tells about friendship between a boy and a lynx. An animal park cannot keep a lynx any more, and the boy helps it to get to freedom.

Some hunters hate the lynx because it is after the game and also domestic animals. The story is rather sad and touching, acting partly okay, partly mediocre, but the winter scenery is very beautiful and worth to see.

The movie is best suited for families and children, but not too young watchers.

Beautiful film seen on the day before Christmas. Puts you in a perfect Christmas mood without the bells. Great to see such a nice film, which I would have liked to show my little niece, to see how things go in nature...including the mingling of human nature. And it seems to me unique to see the lynx in a movie ! Surprisingly to watch, as this wild cat is normally extremely shy for humans, and almost extinct in most of the forests in Europe. Although it is actually spotted again in some larger natural areas of western Europe (Germany)!

So this was bound to happen in Lapland, Finland. Nice filming, good character-acting, and a story where the wild cat is not only a purring, lovable cat, but also a wild animal, that even can kill other animal 'for fun', as one of the lynx-hunters expressed it. Fortunately perseverence of the boy, Tom, and the love for the wild cat, Leevi, wins it in the end.

It's a good theme, good to watch for children, and...grown ups, as nature is still something mankind doesn't seem to be able to live with so easily. All around an excellent film to watch for anyone, who like animals, nature, adventure and ...sheer beauty !

Coen van Hall, The Netherlands