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The DVD tells the story of the 3 wars that Finland fought - the Winter war, and the Continuation war fought against the Soviets and the Lapland war against the retreating German army as it laid waste revengefully to Lapland. It is largely animated maps and talking heads of witnesses. There are few of these witnesses still alive, but they do have a special place in Finnish society.
No wonder - many of them fought in battles against overwhelming odds in men and materiel. But they are quiet heroes. There is no swagger. It was something that had to be done, but it was a horror.
The Finns invented the Molotov cocktail, because they didn't have enough tanks to guard the invasion routes into Finland. Small groups of Finnish soldiers would live underground for weeks on end near these routes in impossible conditions - living off the forest. When tanks came, they would run out, jump on them and pop a cocktail down the turret. Or shove a log betwen the tracks. Most of them died - but they prevented many advances.
It would be stupid of me to compare these actions to Iraq. But in one aspect there are similarities. The Finns passionately believed in the defence of their way of life and they knew the territory intimately. They were up against troops from all over the Soviet Union, many of whom were untrained for winter warfare, and were treated as cannon fodder. They had little understanding of the culture that they were up against.
The Finns have never glorified the wars they fought. But they have respected the men, and hundreds of women (Lotta Svärd ), for their sacrifice in the defence of Finnish independence.
The Winter War: Finnish losses 24,300 dead, 43,600 wounded The Continuation war: Finnish losses 65,000 dead. 142,000 wounded The Lapland War: Finnish losses 1000 dead. 2900 wounded
General of the Infantry Adolf Erik Ehrnrooth, Knight of the Mannerheim Cross no. 162: "Finland is a good country and worth defending, and her only defenders are the Finnish people."
Finland was the only country in WWII that attempted to bring all its fallen back to be buried in their home parish.
Finland lost 12% of its territory. 450,000 people from these territories had to be resettled in Finland You can't be me, I'm taken
One could also compare the standard of living in Finland to the one in former Finnish territory, for example the in old Finnish and now Russian city of Vyborg (birth place of former president Martti Ahtisaari, if I'm not mistaken). The difference is quite stark.
(obviously I don't mean to bash Russia, but I'm merely pointing out that the standard of living is significantly higher in Finland...) "The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
However I believe the overall understanding displayed in Finland toward today's Russia - in spite of numerous little spats on various trade issues - is very useful to Europe. The trade is obviously very valuable for Finland. You can't be me, I'm taken
We wallow in the past because we can't bear the present and don't think about the future.
What proportion of the Finnish population did all those deaths represent, btw?
Still, bringing home all the dead may have been an easier job than for countries with fallen in the hundreds of thousands or in the millions. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
"The third war Finland had to fight was the Lapland War, where we were now up against our once brothers in arms. How we ended up in this situation was neither the Finns' nor the Germans' fault. It was the Finnish-Soviet armistice that was the culprit. The Soviet Union had insisted on a clause requiring Finns to disarm the Germans that were still within Finnish territory. This had to be completed in virtually no time and to top it off, the final provision of the clause stated that the Red Army was ready and able to provide assistance. And so we had no other choice except to start fighting because there were Soviet troops at three locations on Finnish territory, poised to intervene. Had this been allowed to happen, Finland would have been occupied." You can't be me, I'm taken
And then they wonder why we're so anti-war. Pfff. "The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
A former history student, Rogozhkin was intrigued by the Continuation War, a protraction of the Russo-Finnish Winter War and part of the greater WWII conflict. The cease-fire with the Soviet Union began officially Sept. 4, 1944, although forces on both sides continued firing until the next morning. This is when the film's story begins. Unaware of the conflict's end, one Soviet Army officer and one Finnish soldier are imprisoned in the wilderness for different, unexplained reasons. They escape through a mix of effort and circumstance, and end up in the hut of a lonely but spirited Saami woman who does not take sides, but takes care of - and comes to love - them both. Rogozhkin wanted to go beyond the story of three people converging in the hinterlands of war, to create a situation where three people speak three different languages but come to understand one another in other ways.
Unaware of the conflict's end, one Soviet Army officer and one Finnish soldier are imprisoned in the wilderness for different, unexplained reasons. They escape through a mix of effort and circumstance, and end up in the hut of a lonely but spirited Saami woman who does not take sides, but takes care of - and comes to love - them both. Rogozhkin wanted to go beyond the story of three people converging in the hinterlands of war, to create a situation where three people speak three different languages but come to understand one another in other ways.
