John W. Brunius made three great Swedish epics in the late 20s of which this one was the second, all three based on Swedish historical reality from different centuries. This concerns the tragic war with Russia in 1808, in which Sweden lost Finland, which had been the eastern part of Sweden for 650 years. The less said about the war, the better, it was an assault as foul as the one in the Winter War of 1939 by as hopelessly overwhelming superpower against a small people who only wanted to live in peace. The national poet of Finland Johan Ludvig Runeberg compiled a collection of poems about it, taking care of the few glimpses of hope and glory on the Swedish-Finnish side that did after all shine through.
It's a number of epic episodes, and John W. Brunius has piously put all the best ones on screen. The result is a great delight to all literature lovers of Finland and Sweden of Runeberg and his eloquent Homeric poetry, since they will recognize every scene and character from the poems. Like in all these three epics of Brunius', the screening is admirable, many scenes are unforgettably pictorial, almost like true historical paintings, and you can see how the actors enjoyed making these films. Edvin Adolphson is outstanding as George Carl von Döbeln, the only Swedish general in the war who went down honorably in history, but all the characters are excellent. The one episode which is not from Runeberg is the love story in the second part, adding an unnecessary bathos to the film.
It does not follow the same chronology and order as Runeberg's poems but has been put into a more epic composition, the first part ending with the treason and fall of Sveaborg, dealing a mortal blow to the defense from the beginning, while the second part ends with the glory of Döbeln and the heartrending tragedy of Sven Dufva, also two of the highlights in the poems.
On the whole, it's a great film, the rustic sceneries are magnificent, the battle scenes quite impressing still, the human ingredients add both charm and humor to the epic collage, and you will always remember the film with a warm heart, especially íf you are a friend of Finland. It should be noted, that although it's a Swedish film, it was made in Finland, and all the amateur actors are Finnish.
