Lapland Odyssey (2010)
"Napapiirin sankarit" (original title)

A comedy about Janne, a man from Lapland in Northern Finland, a man who has made a career out of living on welfare. Inari, his girlfriend, is tired of Janne's incapability of getting a grip... See full summary »

Director:

Dome Karukoski

Writer:

Pekko Pesonen

Stars:

Pamela Tola, Jussi Vatanen, Jasper Pääkkönen

7 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pamela Tola	...	Inari Juntura
Jussi Vatanen	...	Janne
Jasper Pääkkönen	...	Kapu
Timo Lavikainen	...	Tapio Räihänen
Konsta Mäkelä	...	Hatunen
Sinikka Mokkila	...	Jannen äiti
Erkki Hetta	...	Jannen isä
Asko Sahlman	...	Martti Juntura
Kari Ketonen	...	Pikku-Mikko
Miia Nuutila	...	Marjukka
Rinna Paatso	...	Marjukan kaveri
Moa Gammel	...	Anna
Anna-Leena Härkönen	...	Reseptionisti
Camilla Jacobsen	...	Seireeni 1
Jane Timglas	...	Seireeni 2

Storyline

A comedy about Janne, a man from Lapland in Northern Finland, a man who has made a career out of living on welfare. Inari, his girlfriend, is tired of Janne's incapability of getting a grip on life. Janne wasn't even able to buy a digital TV box that Inari had given money for. Inari gives an ultimatum: a digital box needs to arrive by dawn or she leaves. Janne sets out into the night with his two friends to find a box. On their way to the city of Rovaniemi, Janne and his friends face many challenges, obstacles and temptations. They learn that they need to be daring. There's no room to give into bitterness. The most important thing isn't success, but rather the journey in itself.

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Plot Keywords:

friend | night | lapland | mother son relationship | adulthood | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Finland Iceland Sweden

Language:

Finnish English Swedish Russian

Release Date:

15 October 2010 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Lapland Odyssey

Filming Locations:

Kolari, Finland

Box Office

Budget:

€1,700,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anagram Produktion, Film i Väst, Helsinki Filmi Oy

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Diili (2005)

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Soundtracks

"ONNELLISET"
Written by Gösta Sundqvist
Arranged by Eppu Kosonen
Performed by Vesterinen & Jonna Kosonen (as Jonna Geagea)
© Warner/ Chappell Music Finland
(P) 2010 Universal Music Oy

User Reviews

The little country of Finland comes out from behind the snow to shine once again!

I have to admit that there was a lot of hype here in Finland surrounding the release of this movie in theaters. Finns are often very eager to see good films produced about their own country. While the selection of Finnish movies may be quite slim, pretty much all of them literally deserve good mention.

However no Finnish movie deserves as much mention as 'Napapiirin Sankarit' Take one completely fed up girlfriend and her final order to fulfill a 'certain seemingly very simple request'. Give that to one immature misguided goof and add his 2 similar-minded friends to the equation. Finish all of that off with a destination hundreds of kilometres away and a 24 hour time limit.

Can anyone say 'disaster road-trip'? What ensued was perhaps one of the most hilarious pan-out of events I have ever watched in my life. Filled with laughs, tears and an ending that you could have never guessed you in your life. Napapiirin Sankarit is a movie that will not be leaving your thoughts for a very, long time. This movie is a humorously 'chilling' reminder that life (and relationships especially) are very fragile things.

I recommend this movie to anyone who is trying learn what 'Finland' is all about. While the story may seem fictional to most, the events that transpire in this movie are 'more-than-likely' reality for Finns.

Don't waste your time reading my review, go out and watch this movie. For it is one movie that you will never regret sitting down to watch. Just remember if you don't understand Finnish to keep the subtitles on hand, you'll need them!