''Ambush'' (; ) is a 1999 Finnish war film directed by

Olli Saarela Olli Juhani Saarela (born 16 March 1965) is a Finnish film director. He has directed films such as ''Ambush (1999 film), Ambush'', ''Bad Luck Love'', ''Rollo and the Woods Sprite'' and ''Year of the Wolf (film), Year of the Wolf'', which is based ...

. The film debuted on 22 January 1999 in Finland, after which it was released internationally. The film is based on a book written by

Antti Tuuri Antti Elias Tuuri (born 1 October 1944, Kauhava, Southern Ostrobothnia) is a Finnish writer, known for his works dealing with Southern Ostrobothnia. The ''Äitini-suku''-series tells the stories of the Finns who immigrated to the United State ...

and its leads are played by Peter Franzén as Lt. Eero Perkola and Irina Björklund as Kaarina Vainikainen, Lt. Perkola's love. Rukajärvi (Rugozero) is a municipality (as well as a lake) in

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

, Russia, and it was held by the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...

during 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 during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

of 1941–44.

Plot summary

Cast

* Peter Franzén as Lieutenant Eero Perkola * Irina Björklund as Lotta Kaarina Vainikainen * Kari Heiskanen as Lance Corporal Jussi Lukkari * Taisto Reimaluoto as Corporal Unto Saarinen * Kari Väänänen as Corporal Tauno Snicker * Tommi Eronen as Private Simo Karppinen * Pekka Heikkinen as Corporal Evert Rönkkö * Pekka Huotari as Private Martti Raassina * Tero Jartti as Private Moilanen * Rauno Juvonen as Private Hämäläinen

Reception

The film opened at number one at the Finnish box office, replacing another Finnish film '' The Tough Ones'', with a gross of $394,369 for the week. It went on to gross $2.7 million

Awards

The film won seven Jussi Awards in 2000 including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Photography, Best Edit, Best Staging, Best Sound Design and Best Score. The film was also entered into the 21st Moscow International Film Festival.

References

External links