Tuntematon Sotilas TV Series Overview (2018-2019)

Introduction

The Unknown Soldier (Finnish: Tuntematon Sotilas, Swedish: Okänd soldat) is a 2018 Finnish war drama miniseries of the 2017 film – the third adaption of the 1954 bestselling Finnish classic novel of the same name by Väinö Linna, a book considered part of national legacy.

The World War II miniseries follows a machine gun company (Finnish: konekiväärikomppania) of the Finnish Army from a frog perspective during the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944.

Outline (Setting and Characters)

The setting is based on the unit Väinö Linna served in during the Continuation War, Infantry Regiment 8 (Finnish: Jalkaväkirykmentti 8).

It follows a fictional Finnish Army machine gun company in the Karelian front from mobilisation in 1941 to armistice in 1944.

The soldiers of the company are sympathetic but realistic portraits of men from all over Finland with widely varying backgrounds. Their attitude is relaxed, disrespectful of formalities, and business-like, even childish and jolly, throughout the story despite the war and the losses the company suffers.

The film occasionally shifts to the homefront, showing for example Kariluoto marrying his fiancée at Helsinki Cathedral and Rokka visiting his wife Lyyti and children at their farm on the Karelian Isthmus.

Outline (Plot)

The machine gun company is deployed in June 1941 from their barracks to the staging area to prepare for the invasion of the Soviet Union. The company’s first attack is over a swamp on Soviet positions. Following a series of battles, the soldiers advance into East Karelia and cross the old border lost during the Winter War.

In October 1941, they interact with the locals while positioned in the captured and pillaged city of Petrozavodsk. The company is ordered to defend against a Soviet winter attack along the Svir river. Lahtinen is killed during a Soviet breakthrough, but Rokka halts a flanking 50-strong enemy unit by ambushing them with a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun from high ground. The film follows the trench warfare period of the war from 1942 to 1943.

The soldiers drink kilju (a home-made sugar wine) until intoxication during Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim’s birthday celebrations, a new recruit is killed by a sniper and replacements reinforce the company.

The Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive of summer 1944 forces the Finnish Army to start a withdrawal from the conquered area and to stall the Soviet advance with counter-attacks. Hietanen is first wounded by artillery and later dies when his ambulance is attacked. In the subsequent fighting, the company suffers large numbers of casualties, including Captain Kariluoto, and abandons its machine guns during a retreat from a hopeless defence.

Shortly afterwards, the company must hold the line against another Soviet attack. Koskela is killed while disabling a Soviet tank with a satchel charge. After the last counter-attack by the Finns, the war ends in a ceasefire in September 1944. The soldiers rise from their defensive fighting positions after the final Soviet artillery barrage stops and they listen to the first radio announcements on the eventual Moscow Armistice.

The film closes with a montage of the impacts of the war and actual war-time footage.

Cast

Eero Aho as Antero “Antti” Rokka, a pragmatic veteran corporal of the Winter War and originally a farmer from the Karelian Isthmus, who came to the war “to kill and not to be killed” and does not believe in military discipline.
- According to the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Aho’s casting came as a surprise considering he had mostly played villains or tormented characters in the past.
Johannes Holopainen as Jorma Juhani Kariluoto, an idealistic 2nd lieutenant, later lieutenant and captain.
Jussi Vatanen as Vilho “Ville” Johannes Koskela, platoon leader as 2nd lieutenant and later lieutenant. Koskela is described as the archetypal Finnish role model: quiet, upstanding and modest.
Aku Hirviniemi as Urho Hietanen, the platoon jokester from Finland Proper.
Severi Saarinen as Lehto, an aggressive and irritable corporal who hates weakness.
Hannes Suominen as Vanhala, a Tavastian private who does not take the war seriously and favours listening to gramophone records of Soviet songs, such as “Kalinka”.
Paula Vesala as Lyyti, Rokka’s wife who stays behind at the Karelian Isthmus to take care of the farm and their children.
- The character did not appear in previous film adaptations, but has been regarded as a welcome balance to the focus on the frontline.
Samuli Vauramo as Lammio, a disciplined platoon leader who is promoted to captain and company commander after the first battle.
- Lammio is portrayed as more humane than the caricatures of previous versions.
Joonas Saartamo as Yrjö Lahtinen, a communist relic from the Finnish Civil War.
Arttu Kapulainen as Susi (“Suen Tassu”), Rokka’s quiet neighbour and closest friend from the Karelian Isthmus who follows him everywhere.
Andrei Alén as Rahikainen, an unempathetic private who takes advantage of the war environment.
Eino Heiskanen as Risto Riitaoja, a timid and fearful soldier who is mostly a burden to the platoon.
Kimi Vilkkula as Juhani Sebastian Sihvonen, a clumsy but an adept soldier of the platoon.
Juho Milonoff as Aarne Honkajoki, a reservist private who reinforces the company.
Eemeli Louhimies as Usko Asumaniemi, a cocky and naiive 19-year-old private who reinforces the company.
Matti Ristinen as Antero Sarastie, commander of the battalion.

Trivia

Filming commenced on 06 June 2016 and was shot in 80 days with over 3,000 extras and the support of the Finnish Defence Forces at locations around Finland, such as Suomenlinna fortress and North Karelia wilderness with most of the battle scenes done at Karelia Brigade training area.
Initially, over 14,000 people volunteered as extras.
On 29 June 2016, the film set a Guinness World Record when Duncan Capp of IFX International Special Effects detonated the most high explosives in a single film take, 70.54 kg of TNT equivalent.
By day 72 of filming, 458 hours of footage had been captured with a production team of 120 people.
Benjamin Mercer edited the film releases as well as the five-part television release with the Final Cut Pro X application.
The cast, of whom some had prior conscript military experience, went through boot camp training arranged by the auxiliary National Defence Training Association on wilderness skills, how to keep warm during winter and how to move with cross-country skis in a forest.
Louhimies wanted “people to feel and understand how it is and feel to be at war”.
The cast slept at scene locations in stove-warmed military tents, mimicking an actual war-time unit.
To imbue realism into the scenes, the film was shot without artificial lighting, using whatever conditions the crew had.
It was the most expensive Finnish motion picture at its release with a budget of 7 million euros.
The film opened to mixed reviews domestically on 27 October 2017 as a part of the official 100th anniversary of Finnish independence programme, breaking the opening weekend record for a local-language film.
The international premier was on 23 November 2017 at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, followed by Ireland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway.
The film was described by critics as gritty, forlorn, honest and realistic as well as a pacifist piece confronting less pleasant sides of Finnish history.
The film won four Jussi Awards for the Best Actor (Aho), along with Best Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound Editing from a total of eleven nominations.
With a 13.5 million euro domestic gross at the 2017 box office, it was the most successful film of the year in Finnish cinema.

Tuntematon Sotilas Series

You can find a full index and overview of Tuntematon Sotilas here.

Production & Filming Details

Director(s): Aku Louhimies.
Producer(s): Aku Louhimies, Mikko Tenhunen, Miia Haavisto, Kaarina Gould, Tommi Kangasmaa, Juluis Kemp, Daniel Kuitunen, Liisa Penttila, Ilkka Perheentupa, Topi Siniketo, Ari Tolppanen, Timo Vierimaa, and Ingvar Þórðarson.
Writer(s): Vaino Linna, Aku Louhimies and Jari Olavi Rantala.
Music: Lasse Enersen.
Cinematography: Mika Orasmaa.
Editor(s): Benjamin Mercer.
Production: Elokuvaosakeyhtiö Suomi 2017, Kvikmyndafélag Íslands, and Scope Pictures.
Distributor(s): SF Studios and Beta Cinema.
Release Date: 30 December 2018 to 27 January 2019.
Running Time: 300 minutes (total running time).
Country: Finland.
Language: Finnish.