Tuntematon sotilas (1955)

Finnish Continuation War rages and a platoon of soldiers is forced to face the horrors of the forefront. Based on Väinö Linna's book of the same name.

Director:

Edvin Laine

Writers:

Väinö Linna (novel), Juha Nevalainen

Stars:

Kosti Klemelä, Heikki Savolainen, Reino Tolvanen

7 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

In 1941 Finland attacks the Soviet Union to regain the territory that the Soviet Union occupied after the Winter war 1939-1940. Among the Finnish soldiers are Anttero, Wolf Paw, Koskela and Hietanen. Under great hardships and deaths of comrades in arms they manage to come as far as Lake Onega before the losses become too great.

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Plot Keywords:

finnish soldier | finnish | finland | year 1941 | soviet finnish war | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

Finland

Language:

Finnish

Release Date:

23 December 1955 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Az ismeretlen katona

Filming Locations:

Luumäki, Finland

Box Office

Budget:

FIM 46,667,761 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Suomen Filmiteollisuus

Technical Specs

Runtime:

177 min 121 min (cut) 135 min (1956)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Opened in 3 theaters: Rex, Ritz and Tuulensuu, all in Helsinki, Finland. Movie was distributed with 21 copies.

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Quotes

Hietanen: [Mäkilä gives a salted herring to Hietanen suffering from hangover] Thanks! I will manage the next half a year with this!

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Kalinka
Lyrics and Music Composed by Ivan Larionov (Russian text 1869)
Sung by Helena Vinkka

User Reviews

War does not make one great...

Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) is an epic story and part of Finland's history. The movie is based on famous Finnish novel by Väinö Linna, and it is set in the Continuation War (1941-44), just about a year after the Winter War, between Finland and Soviet Union. The movie is fully black and white.

The Unknown Soldier focuses on a very diverse group of soldiers and is packed with black humour. The different Finnish dialects, that make a huge part of the fun in the jokes, are understandable only for people who know Finnish, but the overall feeling is there in the amazing acting by Reino Tolvanen (Rokka), Kosti Klemelä (Koskela) and Pentti Siimes (Määttä) - to name a few. The most powerful scene is probably the one where Lehto, Määttä and Rahikainen are stubbornly serving their disciplinary duty after refusing to obey their superiors - directly under the enemy aerial fire.

The Unknown Soldier is one of the most realistic war movies ever made. It shows the horrible facts: people die for their home land and it's not pretty. The Finnish soldiers fight against the tenfold enemy in impossible situations. They made heroic acts in their attempt to save their country, and many of these acts have been captured brilliantly in the movie as well. But the true fact of war - death - is always around, even among the war heroes. War does not make one great.

The teaching of The Unknown Soldier is that even a small country has a chance in war against an impossible enemy if the will to protect the homeland is strong enough, the people are stubborn enough and are ready to die for freedom.

The main music in the film - Jean Sibelius' Finlandia is legendary.