Talvisota (a.k.a. The Winter War) (1989)

Directed by Pekka Parikka; produced by Marko Röhr

It’s 1939, the Soviet Union has attacked Finland, and the latter’s population mobilises to fight the invader. The men of Kauhava leave to join their regiment at the front, where they are attacked by infantry, bombed by airplanes, assaulted by tanks and pounded by artillery, against none of which they have adequate numbers or defences. Even so, they fight for their country or die trying.

The Winter War, though largely unknown around the globe, had a profound effect on Finland. With Europe preoccupied with the newly begun Second World War, the USSR hoped a swift and easy campaign would grant them strategic districts along their northwestern border, and turn Finland into a vassal state. But Moscow had not counted on the tenacity of their enemy; one in ten Finns served in uniform, and even the Finnish Communist Party put country ahead of ideology and fought the Russians. Further, the Red Army had been emasculated by Stalin’s purges, fifty per cent of the officer corps - and ninety per cent of its generals - being executed or sent to prison camps. Led by ignorance and riven by inefficiency, the Soviets suffered a third of a million casualties, half of them deaths. The Finns were eventually overwhelmed by numbers but such was the hammering they gave their opponents that Moscow didn’t try to occupy the country, though the terms of the peace treaty were onerous. But Finland remained free, and is to this day.

So much for the history lesson; what about the movie? At three and a quarter hours (the film covers the conflict from start to finish), one might think that it would drag; it doesn’t. The story concerns itself almost completely with the soldiers while they are at the front, though there are scenes of one (Konsta Mäkelä) going on leave, and of the regiment being moved to another location. This film is about ordinary infantry; there are no special operations, no elite units, so their combat is repetitive to them. For the viewer, however, the director and writer show a different aspect of combat, a different danger, a different response, each time, so the soldiers’ tedious and deadly routine becomes various for us.

The script, by Antti Tuuri, from his own novel, provides sparse dialogue, most of it dealing with battle situations. Much must be inferred, such as the Russians’ vast superiority in equipment being denoted by a Finnish joke, rather than a bald statistic, or by the need to rob Red Army dead not of money or watches, but of ammunition and machine guns. The relationships between the men are stoic, as are those between parents and children, and even between husbands and wives - when the main character (Taneli Mäkelä) leaves for war, he shakes his spouse’s hand, rather than kisses her; perhaps indicative of Finns, or of Finns in 1939. The stereotypes often found in war movies are largely avoided; you won’t find the band of misfits usually seen in Hollywood combat.

The acting is quiet, maybe reflecting Finnish character; fatalism is common. The performers are convincing, especially in portraying ordinary men, big and small, fit and fat, bespectacled and bookish, as civilians turned warriors. There are no false heroics, simply men doing what they must, almost every action being concluded without comment or praise. All the actors are credible.

Interest may be discovered in depictions of Finnish culture of the time. Electricity is common in Finnish homes, and rural communities live in clean and prosperous houses. An aspect of many war movies missing from Talvisota is scenes of training. Between the world wars, many European countries had compulsory service, whereby large numbers of men were basically-trained, then released back into civilian life, creating a huge pool of ready soldiers for emergencies. Finland does this still.

The end of this engrossing film comes suddenly, perhaps too suddenly for the viewer, but wars often end abruptly for the soldier, who is out of touch with everything but his own fight for survival. The viewer feels that he has been through a great deal with these men yet, ironically, will not feel bored or drained. Realistic and exciting, interesting and involving, Talvisota eschews the speechifying of Saving Private Ryan, and the almost sanitised symbolism of the recent Dunkirk. If you have a free day, and wish to know a melancholy slice of real history, see Talvisota.