L'année du lièvre

I had watched Le lièvre de Vatanen (2006) directed by Marc Rivière during the lockdown. It wasn't a satisfying experience and i was disappointed with the adaptation. Few days back I looked up the internet for more titles on the adaptation and I was surprised to see Risto Jarva's name. I have seen few early films of the Finnish new wave auteur but missed this one. Uff, I finally watched the film, and I was so overwhelmed that it did justice to the adaptation. The making is unexpectedly captivating and really beautiful. It tells the stress of advertiser Vatanen who throws society's rulebook out of the window and reverts to being a hermit with his newfound companion, a Hare. Taking wildness as a form of liberation, they go further into the Finnish woods and jumps into a great adventure. They encounter cops, poachers, nomad, gypsies and travel guides in their journey. The trip that they take is a truly heart-warming story with lot of emotions and comical in few places. This film had moments of humour especially as we witness confusion experience by Vatanen when he is visited by a group of rich travellers. The theme to break away from the slave monotony is supported with impressive acting, dialogues also with an amazing score. I read that Risto Jarva, died in a car accident on his return journey from the preview of this film before the premier night. I rank this as one of the best Finnish films ever made and its miles better than the 2006 film. I hope many people will get to see this gem and there is another trivia that Finnish metal giants Amorphis has used the theme music of this film in their song 'Message in the Amber' from Queen of Time album. I have heard it and the lead melody is brilliant and I suggest others to check it out.

A wonderful film in the best Scandinavian eldritch magic tradition, with very far sighted analysis of much of the big issues we are just starting to face.

Should be compulsory viewing for all politicians.

Take your pick from privacy, nuclear sustainability, global climate change, quality of life.

Reminiscent of Thoreaus' Walden, but with modern twist, and considerable humour.

I'm not Finnish, although I've travelled there and have good Finnish friends, but I found it totally accessible, and also culturally informative.

This film is more accessible to a foreign public than many other Finnish films, partly due to the limited dialogue. The point being that feelings often cannot be put aptly into words (at least not in Finland), but they can be communicated by visual impressions.

The plot is like that of a road movie, except that the buddies here are a man and a hare (hence the limited dialogue). The background is mostly formed by the Finnish pine forests.

Central to the film is the tension between the modern life style and the traditional Finnish closeness to nature and its magic. This magic and some twists of idiosyncratic, under cooled Finnish humour make the watching of this flick quite enjoyable.

Jäniksen vuosi is one of Jarva's most political movies. It takes stance strongly against modern day society's authority status in the life of the common man, and how it has estranged men from the nature completely. It challenges the whole concept of freedom and wealth in our welfare society.

Vatanen (Antti Litja) - smothered buy the concrete jungle with all its rules and regulations - tries to rattle the chains of the society by escaping it all in to the wilderness of northern Finland - only to realize that the concept of a 'free country' isn't all that unambiguous, in other words, the society has the common man by the balls.

Still the thing that makes Jäniksen vuosi so exceptional - besides the visual and humouristic brilliance - is how it seems to illustrate the whole political atmosphere in Finland in the 70's, as well as the whole identity of Finland as a nation. Vatanen is like an archetype of a classical finn in his solitudeness and social distantness. Since nature has always played such an important role in the national identity of us Finns, the whole idea of that being slowly taken away by the modern society makes Jäniksen vuosi emotionally exceptionally moving.

If you're interested about the Finnish mentality, The Year of the Hare is probably one of the best films you can watch. It's based on the novel written by Arto Paasilinna, the best known Finnish humorist and writer of Magical Realism genre. The movie premiered back in 1977, in time before no one had ever heard of Nokia phones, and Finland was still modernizing from a very agricultural country to a country of high infrastructure and high technology. So many people at the time, like my parents who were about 40 years old, were born in countryside or rural areas of Finland, but had moved to cities after work. Even though we lived in an urban area, we spent a big part of our free time foraging in the nearby forests. So there was (maybe still is) this conflict in Finnish collective mentality, how peaceful, natural and healthy the life in the wilds feels in comparison of living in tight apartment blocks and noisy streets, while enjoying closeness of schools, health care and supermarkets.

In the movie, the main character Kaarlo Vatanen burns out, and decides to go off the grid. Some hilarity and some tragedy ensues.

The director Risto Jarva was a rare diamond in Finnish film industry, but sadly The Year of the Hare is his last work. I've enjoyed everything I've seen from him, and I always think perhaps he had even more in him, but as it is The Year of the Hare remains his magnum opus.