Menolippu Mombasaan

HI! I was in Finland last year and found this movie. I just tried it... And loved it. We were a team of student, in Finland, in Kauniainen, and all of us were just crazy about this movie. The day we all left Finland, we were singing the movie theme to wake up a friend of us...

And guess what, one year later I was in Mombasa, discovering Kenya. I would never had thought of Mombasa without having seen this movie!

Few movies give you the taste of happiness, and what taking care about all the single moment of your life means! Like the guy before said, it's not just about a guy who's gonna die, it about life!

Bye! Jules.

Menolippu Mombasaan (I guess the title could be translated "One Way Ticket To Mombasa") tells a story about two young boys who have cancer and they really want to live their last moments and they run away from hospital. Other boy dreams about Mombasa and it's golden sands and the other dreams about a girl who is in Lapland. And boys decide to take a trip to Mombasa via Lapland.

Movie deals with hard feelings about short life, love and living without it. Characters are well built and played. Story is partly little predictable and has some too easy solutions but still has enough life and humor that it goes very nicely on. Movie touched me personally, because I've thought same things that boys in the movie had to deal with. I truly believe that people should have a right to end their lives way they want and should have enough courage to make their dreams come true and everyone should at least once feel to be loved by someone.

This is a Finnish movie and you can hear it from the soundtrack (it contains some old and well known Finnish songs) and see from the scenery (forests, Lapland, midnight sun) but I believe that also other people get lot from this movie.

The name of the movie, Menolippu Mombasaan (One-way ticket to Mombasa) is very interesting, I think. But the cover of the film isn't interesting anymore. The movie is a lovely surviving-story. Pete has a cancer and he won't survive. So he escapes from hospital. Pete wants to live his dream, he wants to go to Mombasa. And the film can actually begin. Pete, cancer-boy and his friend Jusa want to go to Mombasa. Pete's cancer is bad, and he won't survive. Boys start their trip to Mombasa, and they meet Kata. Pete and Kata are more than just friends, and Kata wants to come to Mombasa too. After this the movie is most boring ever. It was fun before Kata came, when boys were having fun. But when she comes, you can stop watching the movie. The story is OK and actors are fine, but I don't think it's very interesting. If you like Finland and our boring movies, this is for you. If you don't like, this isn't for you. But if I didn't like it, that doesn't mean that you should not watch it. So go ahead. Watch Menolippu Mombasaan!

Finnish movies have come a long way. This movie which has also had some success at festivals around the world is evidence that Finland can produce international quality movies. The actors are all really good and their performance is from time to time truly outstanding. It is always hard to make a movie with subjects like cancer but this movie manages to show cancer from a different angle. It is very nice to see the boys so full of life even in their weak situation. A must see for everyone.

I rated this film 8 since it does have some brilliant qualities in its Finnish context. However, for some reason there has been a great number of youth-oriented films lately and this in one of them. And therefore, more mature audiences might find it a little tacky.

However, acting, writing, production, directing and filming are all of a high to top standard. The storyline has depth in searching for the meaning for the life of two soon-to-die-too-young guys who decide to cease the moment which is to be the rest of their lives.

A previous comment sounded very disappointed due to over-sized publicity campaign etc. which, unfortunately is true in today's Finnish cinema effectively in hands of a single production company of Selin. Still I would say that out of the three mentioned contemporary Finnish films (the others being Pahat Pojat and Levottomat3) Mombasa can be told to be Worlds apart.

I hope that we'll hear from the makers of this film soon again and perhaps for more mature audience, too. It's good to have a heart in film industry these days.