Tuntematon sotilas (1955)

Director:

Edvin Laine

Writers:

Väinö Linna (novel)
Juha Nevalainen (writer)

Release Date:

23 December 1955 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

It is the summer of 1941. An eastern-Finnish machine gun company receives an order to turn in their surplus equipment...

Plot Keywords:

Finnish | Soldier | Lake | Finnish Soldier | Death

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kosti Klemelä	...	Koskela
Heikki Savolainen	...	Hietanen
Reino Tolvanen	...	Rokka
Veikko Sinisalo	...	Lahtinen
Åke Lindman	...	Lehto
Pentti Siimes	...	Määttä
Leo Riuttu	...	Vanhala
Kaarlo Halttunen	...	Rahikainen
Matti Ranin	...	Kariluoto
Jussi Jurkka	...	Lammio
Tauno Palo	...	Sarastie
Pentti Irjala	...	Kaarna
Vilho Siivola	...	Mäkilä
Martti Romppanen	...	Sihvonen
Tapio Hämäläinen	...	Salo

Also Known As:

The Unknown Soldier

Runtime:

181 min | Finland:169 min | Germany:121 min (cut version) | Sweden:135 min (1956)

Country:

Finland

Language:

Finnish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (2001) (uncut) | Finland:K-12 (1988) (cut) | Finland:K-12 (1985) (cut) | Finland:K-16 (1955) (uncut) | Sweden:15 (1956) (cut) | Germany:16 (1956) (cut)

Filming Locations:

Hanko, Finland

Company:

Suomen Filmiteollisuus

Trivia:

Reino Tolvanen was the only one of the leading men who was not a professional actor.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Vanhala: The Soviet Union won the war but the little and tough Finland became second.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 'Tuntemattoman sotilaan' tekijä Väinö Linna (1955)

Soundtrack:

Kalinka

A Gruesome Display

The Unknown Soldier is a cinematic epic as well as a Finnish film classic. Though I have never read the original novel its easy to see why many Finns find it so compelling. Also, generally as a film it is an extremely strong example of what Finnish cinema is capable of.

The movie is a grade-A example of a good war-film, that doesn't rely solely on gruesome imagery or battle footage, but is interesting because of its strong characterization. The characters in deed are the most memorable part of the movie, despite being somewhat over-blown. The over-all tone also varies nicely, between light-hearted humour as well as extremely bleak imagery.

In all the film has only two major weaknesses. First the slightly dragging narrative responsible for the over-all length of the film as well as occasional lack of authenticity. But even with these weaknesses the film delivers a powerful message.