You can see my score right there. I will not describe the plot or go into spoilers -- there are plenty of that here already. Instead, I will discuss the things that were left storming in my mind after watching this beautifully delivered, tormenting and utterly heartbreaking movie. I'll touch on my thoughts about the movie as well, but I'm sure most couldn't care less about my thoughts, so I suggest you move on to the next review.
So... I am not against communism in principle. On a theory level it's a very nice and wholesome idea, but it could never work in our world. Not in humanity's current state and the inherent scarcity that comes with living in a finite, limited planet. There are unlimited futures before us and who knows, maybe in a few of them it'll become plausible and maybe even the norm. But it's hard to see our self-destructing species lasting long enough to see something utopistic like that.
I wanted to get that out of the way, lest someone would mistake my harsh stance against the soviets to be against communism as a concept. It's not.
Soviet Union was -- as all "transitional" dictatures always are -- a shameful stain in humanity's history. From an everyday perspective it was probably fine for some, if not most, but dictatures can never, not ever, exist without abundance of death, misery and loss of freedom.
There are plenty of books and films about the tragedies that took place both behind the curtain and in plain display. There's no lack of content from this perspective. I'm sure there's almost an equal amount of similar content, but from the opposite perspective. There are many sides to everything, nothing is plain black and white. But it'd take immense mental gymnastics not to see the SU for what it was: A tragedy for many, people and entire nations alike.
This movie breaks my heart. The entire concept, the utterly despicable act of forcefully hauling suspected communists beyond the border, even if not in preparation of shooting them directly afterwards, is such a hard thing to understand. It must've taken such a gigantic enmity to be able to do something like that to another human, a fellow citizen, in front of their family no less.
But we could never truly understand today what it must've been like back then, when the wounds of a civil war were still fresh in everyone's memory. And it might be incorrect to state that "we" as a collective could "never" understand such monstrous deeds. I'm certain there are many that can.
But I know I can't.
Well, my obvious and shameful privilege aside, and my fairly biased take on history, this was a great watch. The story feels real -- we've heard stories like this our entire lives -- and the cast does a great job bringing the characters alive.
There are some truly harrowing moments buried within. The movie does a sufficient job bringing forth the weight of those. It feels very heavy at times, especially towards the end. And it just keeps getting more and more rough.
I love the way the main character, Jussi, was written and portrayed. I haven't read the book this is apparently based on, but Jussi just feels very Finnish to me, in this movie at least. There's very little emotion in his face most of the time, though you can tell how he feels behind those eyes. But when he shows his feelings, it's a contained thunderstorm. He doesn't speak much, doesn't talk about himself either -- all these are things that a lot of people around the world would probably find utterly boring and plain -- but he breaks under pressure like most men would. There are no classical heroes in this story. Not one.
But there's soul in that. It's hard to put into words, but I could feel him, in a way. He straightens his back, utters no words, betrays no emotions, looks into the distance with empty eyes and accepts his place. Bides his time, or if worse would come to worst, he'd march towards his and his fellows' abrupt, unjustified end before a line of soviet rifles, with his chin up, silent and devoid of excess facial expressions.
There's a certain beauty in that. Though I recognize it's probably overly romanticized. But it's a movie after all, so I say it's only fitting.
A lot of the smaller arcs move a little chaotically. It's not hard to follow, really, but brings a certain disruption to the experience every once in a while. Though it might just be that it enhances it. Hard to say, since I enjoyed it thoroughly regardless.
It looks beautiful, in a somewhat gritty way. The steads, the nature, the props and clothing; it all seemed authentic enough for my peasant eyes.
There's one line, towards the end, that stuck with me. You'll know what I mean once you get there yourself.
All in all, it was a surprisingly good experience. I was expecting it to be just another overly corny and cheesy Finnish drama that takes place -- as these often do -- in the war and war-adjacent periods. But it turned out to be quite a bleak and slow-paced movie that has a certain soul to it. I'd recommend this to most.
