Tuntematon sotilas

Sometimes in life you want to experience something true and realistic. Molmberg's Unknown Soldier comes as close as it is possible in movie to experience war. Linna's 1955 version was more theatrical and entertaining. It had it's merits but I like Molmberg's better.

In early 1990's I did my military service in Finland and trained a lot attack in the forest and the attack on the bunker line in Molmberg's film looks, sounds and almost smells the same. All details are in place and they really fire Maxim MG's and Suomi SMG's.

I think you can't do good war movie without showing the ugly side of war. Molmberg shows the true nature of war. War is totally evil.

This movie is following a Finnish platoon in Finlands struggle against Soviet Union in the Continuation War starting in 1942. In the beginning the men are conscripts who are sent to the front when Finland attacks SU in hope of getting back the area that SU took from Finland in Winter War in 1940. In the beginning Finland is victorious but then the luck turns... Finland has to start its retreat. The men are just 19-year-old boys when the war starts, but in the end they are heroes who kept the Finland independent despite of the massive Soviet Army.

I find the 1985 version of "Tuntematon sotilas" far superior over the older version. The new version is much more realistic in its description of the war. The actors are of real age instead of the original movie. Also all the battle scenes really give the feeling of chaos when defensive lines are shattered and despair takes over the men.

The film describes continuation war with good accuracy. Also I like how the characters develop over the film. At start the green men who are panicking easily and so afraid of the enemy who they don't even see... To the heroic defensive battles against Russian tank hordes at the end.

Many of the since-unknown actors have now become main pillars of Finnish movies and entertainment. Mollberg's idea of using less famous people than Laine did in his version works. When movie was released the faces weren't familiar - and so the characters are much more neutral.

All-in-all I consider the 1985 Tuntematon sotilas as one of the best and realistic war movies ever made, close to second is "Winter War" - another Finnish war movie.

This film is based on Väinö Linna's novel "Unknown soldier", but the style of the movie differs dramatically from the style of the book. Linna tells his story with bitter black humour and he has war heroes, Koskela & Rokka for example. Mollberg's version has neither heroes nor humour. Instead his movie is starred by blood and terror. Linna awakens, Mollberg silences.

In the genre of war movies Mollberg's work is right on top, it has both artistic and realistic merits, for instance The bridge over the River Kwai lacks the latter. The way Mollberg shows his characters is, however, little too straightforward; Everyone is described thru one mental quality, Lehto is always cynical etc. The mythic silence that surrounds Koskela grows to the astronomical. On the other hand Mollberg succeeds in filming the fear and anger.

The greatest finnish film ever made.

During a visit to the Salpalinja in the late eighties, a friend mentioned this film. We had had a tour by a veteran of the Winter War and the Continuation War of the fortifications and I really wanted to see the film. On our way back to Pyhtää, we hired the video of the film in Kotka and prepared for an evening's viewing.

To say I was stunned and amazed would be an understatement. The film captured perfectly what the aging ex-soldier had recounted to us - he hadn't held back about anything, including atrocities committed by both sides and about the sheer horror of the war.

The Finnish front is barely known elsewhere in the West. Nor were the transfers of populations when Russia took Finland's arm and skirt. What madness possessed the Finns to march on? The film explains the collective frenzy of nationalism gripping the dirigeants and (most of) the men. No dissent was allowed. Those who refused to cross into Russia proper were killed. This was sensitively shown in the film.

Parts of the film were unbearable. The attack on the ambulance stays in my memory. The new lad who doesn't heed the warning about snipers and is rewarded with a bullet in the skull. The line of Russians crossing a snow-covered field only to be mown down to a man.

Loud, lurid and gory, the film captures the dreadfulness of war and the vagaries of the human spirit in a Finnish context. Definitely recommended.