''The Unknown Soldier'' ( fi, Tuntematon sotilas, sv, Okänd soldat) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

directed by

Edvin Laine Edvin Laine (13 July 1905 – 18 November 1989) was a Finnish film director. Laine was born Bovellán. Laine directed a comedy ''Aaltoska orkaniseeraa'' and family film ''Sleeping Beauty (1949 film), Sleeping Beauty'', both in 1949. ''The U ...

that premiered in December 1955. It is based on '' The Unknown Soldier'', a novel by

Väinö Linna Väinö Linna (; 20 December 1920 – 21 April 1992) was a Finnish author. He gained literary fame with his third novel, ''Tuntematon sotilas'' ( ''The Unknown Soldier'', published in 1954), and consolidated his position with the trilogy ''Tää ...

. The story is about the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

between Finland and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

as told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers. The film was and remains the most successful movie ever in Finland; about 2.8 million people, or more than half the Finnish population, saw it in theaters. Its portrayal of Linna's characters is widely accepted as canonical. The film was voted the best Finnish movie by 1213 respondents in an Internet poll by ''

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

'' in 2007. The novel would be filmed again in 1985 by Rauni Mollberg and again in 2017 by Aku Louhimies.

Synopsis

Set against the events of the Finnish

, the film follows a machine gun troop's journey into the Soviet Union. The troop includes the simple-minded Hietanen, the jokey Vanhala, the cynical Lahtinen, the cowardly Riitaoja and grumpy Lehto. The film also follows the commanding officers, such as the happy and slightly senile Captain Kaarna, the young and idealistic 2nd Lieutenant Kariluoto, the calm and modest 2nd Lieutenant Koskela and the strict and unsympathetic Lieutenant Lammio. They face many struggles, such as seeing the supportive Kaarna die in their first battle, three of the soldiers refusing to leave their punishment post during an air-raid as well as defending the trenches after the Finns have taken back parts of Karelia. Part of the way, the troop is joined by Rokka, a Karelian veteran of the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

, who also clashes with Lammio due to having little respect for military discipline despite being an excellent and capable soldier. Throughout the film several of the main characters die. Lehto is injured during night-patrol, left behind and shoots himself. Riitaoja dies the same night when he runs off frightened and gets lost in the woods. Lahtinen dies during the winter, defending his position as his fellow soldiers flee. Hietanen becomes blinded when he saves a young serviceman from being shot. His military ambulance crashes and the blinded Hietanen is gunned down by passing Russian planes while trying to save the other injured soldiers. Kariluoto dies while leading a counter-attack, and shortly afterwards Koskela gets shot while destroying a tank using a

satchel charge 250px, Weapons used in the Winter War. The original Finnish satchel charge is on the left. A satchel charge is a demolition device, primarily intended for combat, whose primary components are a charge of dynamite or a more potent explosive such ...

Cast

Kosti Klemelä Kosti Klemelä (29 February 1920 – 26 March 2006) was a Finnish actor. He is best remembered for playing the role of Lt. Koskela in the Edvin Laine film ''The Unknown Soldier (1955 film), The Unknown Soldier'' (1955). In addition to his film car ...

as Lt. Koskela * Heikki Savolainen as Sgt. Hietanen * Reino Tolvanen as Cpl. Rokka *

Veikko Sinisalo Veikko Sinisalo (30 September 1926 – 16 December 2003) was a Finnish actor. He appeared in 24 films and television shows between 1954 and 2002. He starred in '' Sven Tuuva the Hero'', which was entered into the 9th Berlin International Fil ...

as Cpl. Lahtinen *

Åke Lindman Åke Leonard Lindman (born Åke Leonard Järvinen; 11 January 1928 – 3 March 2009) was a Finnish director and actor. In his youth Lindman was a football player, playing defence for the Finnish national team during the Olympics in Helsinki ...

as Cpl. Lehto *

Pentti Siimes Pentti Kalevi Siimes (10 September 1929 – 27 October 2016) was a Finnish actor. He appeared in more than 80 films and television shows between 1946 and 2008. Siimes starred in the film ''Miriam'', which was entered into the 8th Berlin In ...

as PFC. Määttä *

Leo Riuttu Leo Riuttu (5 June 1913 – 4 August 1989) was a Finnish actor. He appeared in 81 films and television shows between 1946 and 1978. He starred in the film '' Miriam'', which was entered into the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. He is ...

as Pvt. Vanhala *

Kaarlo Halttunen Kaarlo Halttunen (18 August 1909 – 8 March 1986) was a Finnish actor. He appeared in 87 films and television shows between 1933 and 1970. He starred in the film ''Yksityisalue'', which was entered into the 13th Berlin International Film F ...

as Pvt. Rahikainen *

Matti Ranin Matti Helge Ranin (21 November 1926 – 24 November 2013) was a Finnish actor. Ranin had an extensive career in film. He was in his prime as film-actor in the 1950s and 60s, most famously playing Captain Kariluoto in an Edvin Laine film '' The Un ...

as Cpt. Kariluoto * Jussi Jurkka as Lt. Lammio *

Tauno Palo Tauno Valdemar Palo (born Tauno Brännäs; 25 October 1908 – 24 May 1982) was a Finnish actor and singer in what some consider the golden age of Finnish cinema. In ''Guide to the Cinema of Sweden and Finland'' Peter von Bagh names Palo as the ...

as Maj. Sarastie *

Pentti Irjala Pentti Irjala (23 September 1911 – 25 June 1982) was a Finnish actor. Career Since 1959, Irjala worked for the Finnish National Theatre. He appeared in over a hundred films, making him the actor with one of the longest careers in Finnish film ...

as Cpt. Kaarna *

Vilho Siivola Vilho Siivola (10 April 1910 – 28 November 1984) was a Finnish actor, film director, television director and a member of the Council of Theatre. Siivola was born in Valkeakoski. His career included theatre, where he was both an actor and a di ...

as Supply Cpl. Mäkilä *

Olavi Ahonen Kauko Olavi Ahonen (21 July 1923 in Tikkakoski – 1 September 2000 in Helsinki, Finland) was a Finnish film actor. Ahonen first appeared in film in 1954 and made many appearances in Finnish film between then and 1997. He also appeared in ma ...

as Pvt. Riitaoja *

Tarmo Manni Tarmo Manni (30 July 1921, in Saarijärvi – 24 September 1999, in Helsinki) was a Finnish actor. He worked for the Finnish National Theatre 41 years of his 44-year career and appeared in 65 films between 1944 and 2000. Manni was known as a fla ...

as Pvt. Honkajoki * Veli-Matti Kaitala as Pvt. Hauhia *

Tapio Hämäläinen Eemil Tapio "Tapsa" Hämäläinen (18 June 1922, in Uukuniemi – 28 January 2008, in Helsinki) was a Finnish actor and theater counsellor. Career Hämäläinen's best known roles were as Salo in '' The Unknown Soldier'' (''The Unknown Soldier'') ...

as Pvt. Salo *

Martti Romppanen The IV District, also known as Martti (Finnish; ''Martinsbacken'' in Swedish), is one of the central districts of Turku, Finland. It is located on the east side of the river Aura, between ''Tervahovinkatu'' in the west and ''Betaniankatu'' an ...

as Pvt. Sihvonen * Vili Auvinen as Pvt. Asumaniemi

Production

The film began production and was released only a year after the release of the novel. There was an immediate competition for filming rights, which was won by

SF Film SF may refer to: Locations * San Francisco, California, United States * Sidi Fredj, Algeria * South Florida, an urban region in the United States * Suomi Finland, ISO_3166-1_alpha-2#SF-Transitional, former vehicular country code for Finland ...

, led by T. J. Särkkä, after Linna sold the film rights to the book for one million Finnish marks. Filming began in April 1955 in

Nurmijärvi Nurmijärvi () is the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...

, although the final script was not completed until the end of May. The film is relatively loyal to the original novel though rarely shows the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

in most scenes. Kariluoto's death is different though his last words are the same as in the novel. Lammio's come-uppance from a disrespectful soldier during the Finns' retreat is absent from the film. The character Karjula has been omitted entirely. The role of Rahikainen has also been downplayed considerably, as in the novel he is Hietanen's closest friend but merely a support character in the film. Due to disagreements with SF Film, the

Finnish Defense Forces The Finnish Defence Forces ( fi, Puolustusvoimat, sv, Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime the Finnish Border Guard (which i ...

refused to assist with the filming. Thus all soldiers are actors and there is a heavy use of stock footage during several scenes showing Finnish artillery. As the soldiers are played by SF Film regulars, most are physically much older than their characters in the novel. Several actors were considered for the role of Rokka but were ultimately rejected because they couldn't deliver his Karelian Finnish dialect. Reino Tolvanen was an actual veteran of the Continuation War, having served in the airforce, and was cast due to speaking the dialect naturally. Edvin Laine and Väinö Linna became good friends during the production. Laine would go on to make several more films based on Linna's novels after the mid-1960s, when SF film stopped all internal film production. Upon completion, ''The Unknown Soldier'' was the longest and most expensive film in the Finnish cinema history up to that point: 181 minutes and, according to the account book, FIM 46,667,761. At the beginning and end of the film ''

Finlandia ''Finlandia'', Op. 26, is a tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian ...

'', by Finnish national composer

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...

, is played. The music used in the film is a mixture of the original music composed for the film by Ahti Sonninen and the finished music.

Legacy

Since 2000,

Yle Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, found ...

has broadcast the film every year on the Independence Day of Finland (December 6). In 2015, the movie was moved to

Yle Teema Yle Teema was a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Finnish public broadcasting company Yle. The channel was dedicated to culture, sciences and learning. The channel was known for its "Theme Saturday" (Teemalauantai/Tema Lördag) which ...

, away from its usual slot on either Yle TV1 or

Yle TV2 Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; sv, Yle TV Två) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle. TV2 was launched in 1965 as the successor to the former television channels TES-TV (Tesvisio) and Tamvisio, and broadcasts public service p ...

.Tuntematon sotilas on itsenäisyyspäivän perinne, mutta miksi Puolustusvoimat kieltäytyi yhteistyöstä, ja Urho Kekkosen oli puututtava asiaan?
– ''Episodi'' (in Finnish) In 1985, with Väinö Linna's approval,

Rauni Mollberg Rauni Mollberg (April 15, 1929 – October 11, 2007) was a Finnish film director who directed movies and TV movies. In 1963 Mollberg directed movies for YLE. He directed a version of '' The Unknown Soldier'' in 1985, 30 years after Edvin L ...

directed a remake. This film follows the novel more closely but also features obvious visual nods to the 1955 version. A new film version, directed by

Aku Louhimies Aku Louhimies (2009) Aku Louhimies (born 3 July 1968) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He has directed feature films, documentary films, commercials and music videos. His international breakthrough was the 2016 serial drama '' Rebe ...

came out in 2017, made its television premiere on the Independence Day of Finland (December 6) in 2021.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unknown Soldier 1955 films Eastern Front of World War II films Films based on military novels Films directed by Edvin Laine Films set in Finland Films set in Russia Films set in 1941 Films set in 1942 Films set in 1943 Films set in 1944 Films shot in Finland 1950s Finnish-language films Films based on Finnish novels Films based on works by Väinö Linna 1950s war films Finnish World War II films Finnish war films Finnish black-and-white films