Unknown Soldier

A very long movie, almost 3 hours. The action scenes and period weapons look very realistic and accurate.

Fantastic movie about Finland's fight with the Soviet Union. It follows a machine gun team thru the campaigns against the USSR. Beautifully filmed, good action set pieces, accurate uniforms and equipment. For those complaining that the story doesn't bring up Nazi Germany. Well, it shouldn't. That's not what the movie is about. Finland needed armor and weapons and Germany obliged. It was kinda of a win/win for Finland and Germany. Finland got equipment, Germany got someone to keep the Russians busy in the north. Doesn't make Finland Nazis. Put yourself in Finland's hands. The USSR invaded them twice. They needed help. The allies had their hands tied because of Finland's location and the USSR thought it would be an easy country to take over, boy were They wrong. Embarrassed in 1939, losing over a million men. But by 1944, the USSR was a juggernaut and Finland sued for peace giving up land. Finland ended up being the last bastion for German soldiers stuck there. Finland continued using German armor into the 60s along with Soviet equipment. Definitely check the movie out. Totally worth it, but it is a very long movie, over 3 hours.

Movie is a great war movie.

Very highly recommend. The Finns were great fighters, and gave the Commies a nice thrashing, and that's depicted here.I think they were a little too defensive minded, and could have put more pressure on the Soviets in the North to help the murderous Nazis in the South more, but obviously it was complicated. And we didn't want either the Soviets or Nazis to win.Completely pointless scenes of boys swimming naked, I guess representing happier times. To start and end the movie.There's one dumb scene in the movie, where the soldiers mock their commander for asking what Russian cigarettes tasted like, and they say, like cigarettes........Russian makharka cigarettes tasted awful and hundreds of German soldier accounts say so, that they couldn't believe anyone could smoke that. So the commander's question was totally legit, and no they didn't taste like reg cigs.

This is the best war movie I have ever seen, and I have seen my share. It is both realistic on the ground and encompassing of a wider history. It includes appropriate amounts of the home front, so you know who the men are and what they are fighting for.The history is a bit unknown to Americans, and though a part of WW II, the Finns were basically fighting to expel the Russians from what they considered to be their territory of Karelia. The Russians had other ideas. So the Finns had a bit of an alliance with the Germans for a short time, but concluded a separate peace agreement with Russia before the end of the war.With that in mind, they combine local and regional history in a wider context. It is really quite intelligently done. The portrayals of the men was sympathetic while remaining honest. I don't think it gets any better.

While the world watched Germany, France and Great Britain, the USSR conducted an embarrassingly inept and costly 3 month invasion of Finland that began 30 November 1939. This is called "The Winter War." In spite of the USSR's overwhelming numerical advantages in both men and equipment, the Finns conducted a valiant defence in depth, fighting the USSR to a standstill. Finland lost control of much of the Karelia Penninsula which leads from the rest of Finland to the outskirts of Leningrad. This film is not about that war, but instead about a war that followed a year later, a war of revenge that sought the reacquisition of lost territory and indeed to seize further land from the USSR.The film gives broad hints (if you know the history) that this war, sometimes referred to as the "Continuation War" began with the Finnish people being left out of the political/military decision process. President Ryti's hubris of a "Greater Finland" and military Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim's overweening will to regain the Karelia Peninsula brought Finland to war again on the side of Germany against the USSR, albeit not as signatories of the Tripartite Pact, and thus not into the larger Nazi war against Britain, France and the other Allies. This alliance with the Nazi state was the consequence of secret negotiations, most of which were conducted without the consent of the Finnish Cabinet or legislature. Indeed, President Ryti and Baron Mannerheim initially claimed that the USSR had initiated the war, in much the same manner that the Nazi's claimed to have invaded the USSR in response to provocations. Neither the Finnish nor the German claims were true.One fact the film does not mention is Finnish military participation in the 4 year long siege of Leningrad, today's St. Petersburg, a humanitarian disaster of the first order where Germany and Finland attempted to starve the city into submission at the cost of more than 600,000 civilian casualties. Only the trickle of wintertime supplies brought over ice roads across Lake Lagoda kept the city alive, albeit under under famine conditions and constant Finnish and German artillery and air bombardments.The movie speaks quietly to the politics that led to the alliance with Nazi Germany, with several passing mentions of German military presence. Germany in fact "defended" the Northern Front, fighting in horrific condition in an attempt to cut the USSR's lifeline to the West by isolating the Northern ice-free port of Murmansk. Like many modern Finnish historians, it questions the class bound militarism that defined Finnish society in the 1930s. Born in a civil war in which Red revolutionaries were bloodily defeated, Finland was a society that in many ways rested on ideals dating to the Romanov era of the old Russian Empire - of which Finland was a part. While today Finland is clearly and unambiguously a modern, pro-Western democracy, its politics during the interwar years led it on a different, and ultimately self-defeating course.The final sequence of the film points to the fact that Finland paid a terrible price for the hubris of her president and military leaders. The postwar settlement imposed by the USSR cost Finland all the territory gained and more. Her alliance with the Nazis cost Finland credibility and support from the international community. Many historians argue that it was only the harsh realpolitik of the Cold War that allowed Finland to avoid becoming a vassal state of the USSR, instead receiving sufficient political and diplomatic support from Scandinavia, and the West that gave the nation time to develop her thorny neutrality and strengthened ties to Western Europe.

The more you know about Finnish history as it pertains to the Continuation War and Finnish history in general, the more you will be able to appreciate this movie. You will also be able to enjoy it if you have an appreciation for modern war movies like "Saving Private Ryan" and the miniseries "Band of Brothers": films/miniseries that weave a plot around a platoon and follow them from beginning to end.There is a tragic Shakespearean inevitability to the movie if you take into account Finnish history starting with its alignment with Germany in the Finnish Civil War.A kinetic meditation on sacrificing for your brothers, co-opted patriotism, the blind spots of great men, and a reminder to all would-be leaders that the victories and the costs of all wars belong to the common people, for they are the ones who do the work.

good

This is an awesome true story of combat and fearless heroism in the face of a superior aggressor. The story follows the life and military career of a Finnish soldier, a corporal, called up to repel the Russian invasion of his homeland, Finland, in 1939. He speaks of this to a new recruit as the "Winter War". It ended in early 1940, with the Russians suffering a humiliating defeat. Now, in early 1941, the Finns are called up again, as Hitler has broken his treaty with Russia and has allied with the Finns to attack their western front. The main thrust of this exciting movie is focused on the invasion of Russia by Finland, especially their machinegun corps, where the corporal serves as support for the main batteries. A curious fact of this "Continuation War", as it is known, is that both sides undertook extensive trench warfare, within the subarctic and mountainous boreal forest.I knew nothing of this theater of WWII as I never studied it in history class. I had to look it up. You may want to as well. It's fascinating stuff! The incredible exploits of the often outnumbered Finns, while facing ridiculously hopeless situations, is near to unbelievable. This is without a doubt one of the most exciting and spectacular wartime adventures that I have had the pleasure to watch, or should I say live! Enjoy!

Extraordinaria película, 100% recomendable. Se une al catalogo de excelentes películas finlandesas sobre el papel de este pequeño pero valiente país durante la segunda guerra mundial y su confrontación con los soviéticos.Excelentes ambientación, efectos especiales, batallas, trama fluida y buenas actuaciones.Solo subtítulos en ingles.La recomiendo junto con algunas rusas, estonias y finlandesas para quien gusta del genero y quiere apreciar magnificas producciones europeas:Brest Fortress (fortress of War)Talvisota (Winter of War, Finlandia)Vida y Destino (Miniserie Rusia)1944 (estonia)Generation War (miniserie alemana)

Non un capolavoro ma sicuramente un film realizzato bene. La storia si snoda intorno all'intervento della Finlandia nella seconda guerra mondiale. Valida la ricostruzione storica e la narrazione e bravi anche gli attori. Nonostante le due ore di film in alcuni punti sembra essere quasi tirato via, le scene extra non utilizzate nel montaggio finale e presenti nel materiale del DVD colmano parzialmente questa lacuna. Film secondo me da vedere, assolutamente godibile.

Good product good service