Framom främsta linjen

Finland was the only country during world war two to fight both for the Axis and then later against it, alongside the Soviet Union.

This films focus is opening stages of the war which sees the Finns fighting with the Axis. That said, this film looks only at the conflict between the Finns and the Soviets. It accurately displays the Finns role as defenders attacked by the Soviets and their defense against a much larger enemy force.

This is an interesting, well acted film. It pulls no punches in showing the horrors of war and its easy to empathize with the Finns, whilst feeling sympathy for the men who die on both sides.

This film occasionally shows a patriotic side, especially in the latter half of the film. Thankfully, its not overdone and doesn't descend into jingoism. That said it is a little corny at times and some scenes of this kind might have been best left on the cutting room floor.

In summary this is a good quality film. Its polished and well directed. the sets are top notch and the battles scenes are convincing and at times, shocking. Its refreshing too, to see films that step outside the US/UK mold and for this reason alone, its worth a look. Seven out of ten from me.

This is a dramatized true story about a Swedish speaking unit in the Finnish army, during the Finnish "Continuation war" which Finland fought against the Soviet Union, in 1941-1944 to regain the territory that the Russians had gained in their attack on Finland in 1939-1940.

Don't look for an elaborate plot, bigger than life storyline or any romantic involvement in this film. It doesn't really have a storyline and absolutely no romantic subplot. This is a description of a group of young men on the front and their escapades. Everything has been done with the veterans to achieve maximum authenticity. If that means that the movie is lame, so be it. I find it refreshingly different. However one needs to appreciate before watching this that this is a sort of drama documentary.

The director who is also the producer wanted to make a true life film while the veterans still were alive. He has done this, but some viewers seem to have expected a Hollywood drama.

You won't get that. You'll get grueling scenes as they happened. I rather enjoyed this movie.

PS. The fact that about 80 % of the spoken language in the film is Swedish also seems to annoy some, but not the majority of the local Finnish viewers. But what can you do, this unit comprised of Swedish speaking troops, so this part needs to be accurate also.

I met Mr. Harry Järv at a lecture (about these events) at the Gothenburg City Library, sometime around the shooting of the movie. In the audience there were (my feeling), many other Strong, sharp veterans, with similarly sharp wifes.... This movie seemed 100% true. Not Rambo guys. Just like the rest of us But the best of us.

Dont expect "Wheels of Terror", "Fury" or "Hunde Wollt Ihr Evig Leben.". More, perhaps Bergmans "Shame". At least they looked like Max Von Sydow.

Same as North Africa, this was an Honourable front, from all sides. Far enough from the Chancellery, Saurons eye lost its might. Cant imagine how different history would have played out if the 20 july plot had succeded..

This is a movie about how your best and most pleasant neighbout almost single-handedly prevented his country from beeing occupied by Soviet.

I would consider this a realistic description of war. As always, in critical situations some people tend to stand out as heroes more than others, and this movie gives a nice picture of one of them, Harry Järv, the group leader of a group patrolling deep behind enemy lines. The war scenes in this movie are quite authentic, as opposed to many a Hollywood movie, those who have seen the German movie Stalingrad know what I mean. The actors are good, they give the impression of being real persons who you can relate to. Also, Finland had to ally with the Germans for a while (they actually used them to get weapons) but refused to be ordered around by the Nazis. The reason for this was that no western country helped Finland as the Soviets tried to conquer the country. This movie sets in the time when the Soviets pushed hard on the Karelian isthmus, with an overwhelming number of troops and material, and the Finns tried to hold the front. As a Finn, I am of perhaps overly patriotic in my review, but I would really recommend this movie for everyone who likes a historically correct, humane war movie.

I am a collector of movies about war and this film is a must have. I got some other titles about the Finnish winter war and i love them. The last weeks i have been sweeping the Internet for someone that sells the movie but with no luck. Well, i guess ill have to keep searching for it then. I recommend some other titles about the war in Finland during the WW2.

"Winter War" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098437/

"Ambush" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162625/

These are two very good movies that i really recommend to watch.