Tali-Ihantala 1944 (2007)

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	...	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

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:

Sweden:15 | Finland:K-11

Filming Locations:

Finland

Company:

Åke Lindman Film-Productions

Trivia:

Juha Tetri's lines were dubbed by Ivo Uukkivi.

Quotes:

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

Soundtrack:

Oi kallis Suomenmaa

Where's the story?

As always when making a film out of historical events one is challenged with the task of trying to engage the audience, usually by adding characters or embellishing characters already available thus allowing the viewer to relate and or follow the characters throughout the film.

This film is bold enough not to fall for such obvious flirtations with the audience, it has little more story than the historical facts and the characters that appear do so just very briefly. All too briefly for anyone in the audience to remember little more than a name, maybe a rank.

All in all it becomes a rather confusing experience with names and ranks and orders flying around in the Finnish forest with the only exception of a Russian tank blowing up, or was it a Finnish tank?