Tuntematon Sotilas TV series , Talvisota and other Finnish war movies.

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by Owen, Dec 23, 2019.

  1. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I ordered the 2017 Blu-ray version of Tuntematon Sotilas from Finland the other week.
    I got it Friday & so far have only managed to see the first two episodes.
    Loving it.
    Watching it in Finnish with English subtitles.
    Definately worth finding a copy if you like something a bit different in your war films.
    Different but the same as the experiences of men at war are similar despite their uniform.


    Finnish blurays.jpg
     
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  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Just finished watching the whole thing with my 15 year old son.
    We both loved it .
    We're also both fans of the Estonian film "1944".

    I must find more foreign language war films.
    I'm waiting for Talvisota , the Finnish 1989 film to arrive soon.
     
  3. Juha

    Juha Junior Member

    Very busy now, so very short comments
    Talvisota, IMHO very fine film, based on experiences of south ostrobotnian men who fought during the Winter war in the eastern part of the Karealian Isthmus, at Taipale and Vuosalmi.
    Have not seen the Tuntematon sotilas series. It is an enlarged version of the 3rd film based on a novel of the same name which has been and probably still is very popular here. Have read the book and seen the first b/w version, filmed in 1955, many times on TV and the 2nd version, filmed in 1985, once. The first one is good, being b/w it was easy to embed original wartime filmclips into the story. I did not like the 2nd one. Many who has seen the 3rd have told that it is a good one.
     
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  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Watched Talvisota yesterday. Even though it was a brand new Blu-ray there seemed to be issues with the disc & the sub-titles kept stopping. Re-started film a few times , turned player off & on but that didn't help so watched most of the 3 & a quarter hours in Finnish with no idea what was being said.
    Not that you need subtitles to know that someone has been blown to pieces & his comrades are picking those pieces up.
    A very long film , maybe a bit too long . Special effects are a bit dated as it is a 31 year old film. A few times the aircraft were noticable as model planes.
    The blood was abit too much like red paint .
    Still it's a period of history & a theatre of war that gets little attention from film makers.
    It was great to see mass Soviet attacks with real T26 tanks.
    I also think it's the first time I've seen a film where the squad LMG has been the Lahti-Saloranta M/26 .
     
  5. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I read your post (that I've partly quoted) on another thread today & realised it must be that incident which inspired the similar scene with Antti Rokka (a Winter War veteran) in Tuntematon Sotilas.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2020
  6. Juha

    Juha Junior Member

    Yes, the author Väinö Linna acknowledged that in his letter to Pylkäs (in 1955). He wrote that the character of Rokka was based on him (Pylkäs) but of course modified because the book is a novel. Linna told the same at least some of his closest friend.
     
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  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  8. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I now have another Finnish war movie to watch.
    Framom främsta linjen aka Beyond the front line.
    https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0377935/

    They could have used the proper cover for the dvd box but they used this awful one with GIs & a Leopard. :(
     

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  9. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Finally got a copy of the book .
     

    Attached Files:

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