"Winter War" is finally over

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It took me a while to finally receive the copy from the Amazon, based on eric's recommendation. According to him that Finnish film was perhaps among the best war films ever.
OK, I understand that film is obscure, with small circulation, but that is no excuse for the picture quality. It is simply so atrocious that I am thinking about returning it - I usually see that level of video in the Russian super-bootleg copies, not in official tapes.
Subtitles are placed in a rather unusual place - in the bottom left corner, and in such a way that first three characters or so are outside the frame. In most cases you can figure out that mysterious first word, but in some scenes when things are happening fast this is an unwelcome annoyance.
With all these irritants, how about the film itself?
It is unquestinably good, although I don't see it at quite the same level as the best ever war films - things like Paths of Glory, Forbidden Games, Ballade of a Soldiers, The Grand Illusion, to mention just a few.
Finnish cinema is largely unknown here, and from my previous life I remember few that were less than Earth shattering experiences. And it is clear that Pekka Parikka (the director of Talvisona â€“ this filmâ€™s Finnish title) still has a lot of growing up to do.
However, it comes from the part of the world where the humans are still the focal point of movie making, and it shows. What clearly separates it from the pathetic trash like Saving Private Ryan is that there are no red paint, no plastic guts, no close-ups of "horrible" wounds, as the most horrible wounds are not suffered by those who die on the battle field, but rather by those who are left behind to remember and suffer forever. And here Pekka follows in the footsteps of the many great directors before him, and his humanistic school shows readily. He doesn't try to create and parade some inflated hero, his hero's are simple and common, but they draw your attention to them more than some mucho macho stud, or some trembling almost-anti-hero. Their reactions lack the hysterics of under-trained actors, they simply react like would all normal people in a horribly stressful situation.
The movie is almost surreal in places. The hordes of the Soviet troops look like something out of the recent Hollywood insects attacks, intentionally so to be sure, and the clear separation is drawn between those defending heir home and the vicious termites, bent on destruction, painful as it is to realize that they are humans too. The screams of the dying tank crews, in a rather colloquial Russian, add to the ghostly feel of the battle scenes.
Good film, the one you will not regret getting. But as with most history-based films, a familiarity with the events is a MUST. Did I say â€“ MUST? Poke on Internet before putting the tape on, for most of it is going to be lost without that.
Glorious page in history book for the Finns... another painful one for the inept Soviet leadership. Very much recommended.

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Topic - "Winter War" is finally over - Victor Khomenko 07:35:37 05/06/02 (0)

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