''Trust'' (; ) is a 1976 Finnish-Soviet

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

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

and Viktor Tregubovich. The film portrays the events leading up to the

Finnish Declaration of Independence The Finnish Declaration of Independence (; ) was adopted by the Parliament of Finland on . It declared Finland to be independent from Russia, with reference to a bill (law), bill simultaneously delivered to the Parliament to make Finland an ...

from Russia in 1917 and especially the role of Soviet leader

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

in them. The main roles are played by Kirill Lavrov as Lenin and

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 P. E. Svinhufvud. Edvin Laine received the state film artist award for the film, and Vilho Siivola received the Jussi Award for best actor. At the Riga Film Festival in 1977, the film was awarded a special jury prize for artistic merit in depicting the beginning stages of peaceful coexistence between two neighboring countries.Luottamus
– Elonet.fi (in Finnish) After completion, the film was shown in schools as an

educational film An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods. History Determining which films should count as the first educational fil ...

, but it did not do very well in cinemas. According to the current general perception, it strongly represents the spirit of the era of

Finlandization Finlandization () is the process by which one powerful country makes a smaller neighboring country refrain from opposing the former's foreign policy rules, while allowing it to keep its nominal independence and its own political system. The term ...

between Finland and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

.Harto Hänninen:
Luottamus – 70-lukulainen näkemys Suomen itsenäistymisestä
' – ''

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

'' (in Finnish)

Plot

''Trust'' takes place at the end of December 1917, when the Finnish delegation has traveled to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

to seek recognition for the Finland's independence. Finnish Prime Minister P. E. Svinhufvud with diplomats

Carl Enckell Carl Johan Alexis Enckell (7 June 1876 – 26 March 1959) was a Finnish politician, diplomat, officer and businessman. Enckell followed his father's footsteps in the Russian military and rose to the Imperial Russian Guard. As he was not satisf ...

and Gustaf Idman has to decide whether to seek recognition of independence from the Bolshevik government, and Bolshevik leader V. I. Lenin has to choose accordingly whether to recognize the independence of bourgeois Finland. The main part of the plot consists of flashback scenes, which on the one hand describe the central events of Finland's struggle for autonomy and independence, and on the other hand the shaping of Lenin's nationality policy and personal relationship with Finland in the years 1899–1917. The film shows, among other things, the following historical events: the Finnish mission bringing the Great Petition is rejected in St. Petersburg in 1899; Eugen Schauman shoots Governor General Nikolai Bobrikov in 1904; Lenin wanders in the

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

archipelago on weak ice after escaping from Finland in 1907; Vladimir Purishkevich delivers the famous "Finis Finlandiae!" (Latin for "The End for Finland!") in the Russian Duma in 1910; Parliament led by Speaker Svinhufvud refuses to accept national legislation in 1910; the parliament led by Speaker Kullervo Manner convenes in the fall of 1917 despite the dissolution order; Lenin hides in Helsinki with

Kustaa Rovio Kustaa Adolf Simonpoika Rovio (23 January 1887 in Saint Petersburg – 21 April 1938) also known as Gustav Ravelin, was a Finland, Finnish Communist politician and was the First Secretary of the Karelian Communist Party. Rovio was executed during t ...

in the fall of 1917; Kullervo Manner,

Yrjö Sirola Yrjö Elias Sirola (born Yrjö Elias Sirén; 8 November 1876 – 18 March 1936) was a Finnish socialist politician, writer, teacher, and newspaper editor. He was prominent as an elected official in Finland, as minister of foreign affairs in the ...

and K. H. Wiik attend Lenin's speeches in December 1917; and finally Lenin's government gives the document of recognition of independence to the Svinhufvud delegation in December 1917. At the end of the film, a clip of a newsreel from the 1975 Helsinki OSCE meeting is attached.

Partial cast

* Kirill Lavrov as V. I. Lenin *

Vladimir Tatosov Vladimir Mikhailovich Tatosov (; 10 May 1926 – 24 December 2021) was a Russian stage, television, voice and film actor. He had an honorary title People's Artist of the RSFSR (1991). Biography Tatosov was born on 10 May 1926, in Moscow into a ...

Yakov Sverdlov Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov ( – 16 March 1919) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A key Bolshevik organizer of the October Revolution of 1917, Sverdlov served as chairman of the Secretariat of the Russian Communist Party from ...

* Igor Dmitriev as

Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich Vladimir Dmitriyevich Bonch-Bruyevich (; sometimes spelled Bonch-Bruevich; in Polish Boncz-Brujewicz; – 14 July 1955) was a Soviet politician, revolutionary, historian, writer and Old Bolshevik. He was Vladimir Lenin's personal secretary ...

* Margarita Terekhova as Aleksandra Kollontai * Antonina Shuranova as

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

* Leonhard Merzin as Jukka Rahja * Anatoly Solonitsyn as Alexander Shotman * Leonid Nevedomsky as

Mikhail Pokrovsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Pokrovsky (; – April 10, 1932) was a Russian Marxist historian, revolutionary and a Soviet public and political figure. One of the earliest professionally trained historians to join the Russian revolutionary movement, Pokr ...

* Alexey Eybozhenko as

Nikolai Krylenko Nikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko (, ; 2 May 1885 – 29 July 1938) was an Old Bolshevik and Soviet politician, military commander, and jurist. Krylenko served in a variety of posts in the Soviet law, Soviet legal system, rising to become Minis ...

Oleg Yankovsky Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals. In 1991, he became, together with , the last person to be nam ...

Georgy Pyatakov Georgy Leonidovich Pyatakov (; ; 6 August 1890 – 30 January 1937) was a Ukrainian revolutionary and Soviet politician. He was a leading Bolshevik in Ukraine during and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Born in Kiev Governorate, Pyatakov wa ...

Pehr Evind Svinhufvud Pehr Evind Svinhufvud af Qvalstad (, 15 December 1861 – 29 February 1944) was the third president of Finland from 1931 to 1937. Serving as a lawyer, judge, and politician in the Grand Duchy of Finland, which was at that time an autonomous s ...

* Yrjö Tähtelä as

* Yrjö Pavloff as Gustaf Idman * Esa Saario as Kullervo Manner *

Innokenty Smoktunovsky Innokenty Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky (; born ''Smoktunovich'', 28 March 19253 August 1994) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1974 and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990. Early life Smo ...

as Nikolay Bobrikov * Matti Ranin as Eugen Wolff

References

Bibliography

* Rollberg, Peter. ''Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema''. Scarecrow Press, 2008. * Öhman, Mia. ''Luottamus – kinoleninianaa parhaasta päästä''. ''Filmihullu'', 6/2017. (in Finnish)

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0133072 1976 films 1970s historical drama films Soviet historical drama films Finnish historical drama films 1970s Soviet films 1970s Russian-language films Russian-language historical drama films Films directed by Edvin Laine Films set in the 1910s Films about Vladimir Lenin Soviet multilingual films Finnish multilingual films 1976 multilingual films Films scored by Georgy Sviridov 1976 drama films Russian-language Finnish films