THE WINTER WAR Movie Review

Talvisota

1989 Pekka Parikka

In 1939, with the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in effect, Stalin made territorial demands on neighboring countries. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were forced to cede land to Russia. Finland resisted. On Nov. 30, the Red Army attacked, and for 105 days, the outnumbered Finns held off the invaders. The Winter War is the Finnish version of that campaign. Based on military journals of the 23rd Infantry Regiment and the participants’ memories, it is one of the most brutally realistic films ever made about a ground war fought in trenches, foxholes and craters.

Director Pekka Parikka spends the first half hour in preparation, as the citizen-soldiers form their units. The scenes are jumbled, almost formless, and focused on rumors and stories that somebody told somebody he heard on the radio about the negotiations. The guys gripe about everything from their pitiful equipment to the food, and wait for a war that they hope will not happen. The only two identifiable characters are the Hakala brothers, Martti (Taneli Makela) and Paavo (Konsta Makela), but in most important scenes, it is impossible to distinguish them from their comrades in the snow and dirt once the fighting starts.

That's part of Parikka's point. No single individual is the protagonist of this story. The entire army is the hero. Eisenstein used the same technique in Battleship Potemkin, but he did it for ideological reasons. For Parikka, a collective hero is closer to the truth of the matter, and by using it, he is able to stress the impersonal quality of military destruction. Most of the violence involves the effects of bombs and artillery fire that arrive with a quick shrieking whistle. Survival is a matter of luck, not bravery. Parika and cinematographer Kari Sohlberg seldom let their camera rise above a grunt's eye level, so the viewer has little idea of what's happening beyond the immediate range of sight and sound. Is the campaign going well or poorly? Who knows, and what difference does it make? The shells still fall. The bunker is still frozen.

Without recognizable stars or a familiar storyline to guide North American viewers, the film is absolutely unpredictable. Those same qualities, combined with subtitled dialogue, will make it unwatchable for some potential viewers, too. Then there's the matter of the abrupt conclusion. In his commitment to tell it the way it happened, Parikka is forced simply to stop the story. That, apparently, is accurate enough, though the filmmakers do not spell it out.

In March, 1940, after realizing what a terrible price the war was exacting, the Finnish government agreed to the Russians’ original demands. The 15-week campaign cost the Finns 25,000 killed. The Russians lost 200,000 in a fight that was, essentially, a draw, though, as John Keegan writes in The Second World War, “The experience of the ‘Winter War’ … conditioned the Soviet Union's carefully modulated policy toward Finland when the issue of peace came round again.” It is impossible to show “carefully modulated policy” in a mainstream movie and so, wisely, Parikka doesn't try to. The Winter War celebrates the bravery and tenacity of the Finnish Army without romanticizing or denying the hellish realities that the participants suffered.

Cast: Esko Nikkari (Ylli Alanen), Tomi Salmela (Matti Yli-nen), Vesa Vierikko (Jussi Kantola), Samuli Edelmann (Mauri Haapasalo), Teemu Koskinen (Jussi Hakala), Esko Kovero (Juho Pernaa), Eero Maenpaa (Small Paavo Hakala), Konsta Makela (Paavo Hakala), Taneli Makela (Martti Hakala), Heikki Paavilainen (Vilho Erkkila), Antti Raivio (Erkki Somppi), Miitta Sorvali (Karjalaisemanta), Martti Suosalo (Arvi Huhtala), Timo Torikka (Pentti Saari); Written by: Pekka Parikka; Cinematography by: Kari Sohlberg; Music by: Jukka Haavisto, Juha Tikko. Producer: Marko Rohr. Running Time: 195 minutes. Format: VHS.