Tali-Ihantala 1944 (2007)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Directors:

Åke Lindman
Sakari Kirjavainen (co-director)

Writers:

Stefan Forss (written by) and
Benedict Zilliacus (written by)

Release Date:

7 December 2007 (Finland)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Continuation War

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Rauno Ahonen	...	Lieutenant Colonel
Mikkomarkus Ahtiainen
Frank Biermann
Jussi Brech
Mikko Bredenberg	...	Captain Carl-Birger Kvikant
Riko Eklundh	...	Colonel Sven Björkman
Marc Gassot	...	Sergeant Reino Lehväslaiho
Marcus Groth	...	Major General Ruben Lagus
Johan Hallström	...	Second Lieutenant Thorbjörnsson
Kari Hevossaari	...	Lieutenant Puhakka
Aku Hirviniemi
Antti Holma
Jani Honkaselkä
Markku Hyvönen	...	Lance Corporal Ville Väisänen
Janne Hyytiäinen	...	Major of Air-force

Also Known As:

Mihin vapaat miehet pystyvät (Finland) (working title)
Tali-Ihantala (Finland) (short title)
Vad fria män vörmå (Finland: Swedish title) (working title)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

Finland

Language:

Finnish | Swedish | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Finland

Company:

Åke Lindman Film-Productions

Trivia:

Director Åke Lindman got seriously ill during the filming. He let editor Sakari Kirjavainen finish the picture.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Mannerheim: Perhaps I should go to bed.

Soundtrack:

Oi kallis Suomenmaa

think of it as a documentary, not a movie

Like I said in the discussion-threads about this movie: this a documentary masquerading as a movie. There's zero character-development and "drama". What we have instead is warfare. No BS, just warfare. If you expect good characters and all the other things you could find in other movies, this is not a movies for you. But if you are interested in warfare, then this movie delivers.

And to comment on the review by Mr. Stensson from Sweden: Continuation War is in fact _widely_ discussed in Finland :). And fighting alongside Germans was realistically speaking the only choice. Allying with the West was not possible, since Germany occupied Norway. Allying with Sweden was attempted, but Soviets would not allow it. Allying with Soviets was not an option, since they kept on harassing Finland after the war, and it was thought that they would resume hostilities sooner or later. And I would say that the West made a deal with the devil as well. In many ways the Stalinist USSR was just as bad as Nazi-Germany was.

Like it's name says, Continuation War was a direct continuation of Winter War. Had Winter War not happened, there would not have been Continuation War. And we all know who started the Winter War....

Finns never attempted to attack Leningrad, and they in fact voluntarily stopped at the old border in the Karelian Isthmus (well, they straightened the front by going over the border in the middle, but that's about it). Had they wanted to, they could have taken Leningrad, since Soviets had moved most of their troops against the Germans.

I would like to know what we _should_ have done instead? And in any case: hindsight is always 20/20. What all this has to do with the qualities of this particular movie is beyond me... If you want to further discuss this topic, my advice is to head to the discussion-forum.