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Anyone see this finnish movie?


mkvi

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Never heard of it until now, thanks for posting. I looked it up on IMDb and found this review to be helpful. Some quotes from the review:

There's zero character-development. There's no real plot in the movie either. It just tells the story of a battle. The plot was written over 60 years ago by actual events. It's like the guys making the movie thought "why do we need to have a story about brothers in war, or love-triangles or some other crap like that? We have the biggest battle in Nordic history, that should be enough story for everyone".

It's a 2-hour documentary that's masquerading as a movie.

I don't know about anybody else, but this sounds pretty good. I'll take the documentary over a cheesy hollywood version anyday. Too bad this movie will be next to impossible to get at local rental stores like blockbuster.

And no, I haven't seen it yet, but its now on my list.

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The DVD is out http://www.cdon.com/main.phtml?nav=6665&nav_genre=6665&navroot=905&display_type=&page=shop&gclid=CPu8sKrP2pQCFQ4YQgod3Gn-kQ

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I have not checked out the English subtitles but I hope they are not as crappy as the Talvisota subtitles.

On the movie itself: the IMDb remarks are accurate. The storyline (and events) are (AFAIK) straight from the unit war diaries. Absolutely no girlie-plot stuff in the movie. You'll have to be initiated in the subject to be able to follow the story since there is no central character. To me it seemed like a dramatized issue of Kansa Taisteli (veterans yarns and studies) magazine and as such very good. As a movie experience I have to say even the wife liked it because of it is gritty and realistic.

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I did a quick search but it does not seem to be available in the States.

Here you go, its only $10 and $3 for shipping, not bad. Although I don't think these are official DVDs. I think there hasn't been no other release besides the one in Finland. There is english subtitles though.

http://www.ioffer.com/i/TALI-IHANTALA-1944-2007-DVD-FINNISH-WW2-MOVIE-60819691

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Here you go, its only $10 and $3 for shipping, not bad. Although I don't think these are official DVDs.

Why would you post a link to that? You can torrent it for free if you're into piracy.

It's not much as a movie, the acting varies from poor to ok and the script's more or less a loose collection of scenes happening along the front. If you get it for the StuG on T-34 action you shouldn't be disappointed.

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Why would you post a link to that? You can torrent it for free if you're into piracy.

It's not much as a movie, the acting varies from poor to ok and the script's more or less a loose collection of scenes happening along the front. If you get it for the StuG on T-34 action you shouldn't be disappointed.

Here's hoping it is a legal copy...I'm not into piracy but I do want the film.

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Why would you post a link to that? You can torrent it for free if you're into piracy.

Probably because I'm not into stealing like you obviously are. People around these forums and especially BF frown on the mere mention of using torrents. :mad:

Gunnergoz, I plan on ordering it in a couple of weeks, so please don't forget to post some feedback on it.

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But that's a Finnish wife right?

I know during the war Finnish women used knitting needles as long rod penetrators.

:D

Seriously: it has become an embarrasment to rent "war" movies these days. Every time I put one on the wife asks what kind of a love story am I going to watch this time......

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Oh please. It's obviously a pirate disc, the guy advertises you can take it on dvd-r or dvd+r and even bothers mentioning it comes with a label and cover art.

Which is exactly why I'm a little hesitate on buying it. But I guess I'm not "up" on bootleg/piracy as you are. I sure would be willing to wait for it to be released over here, if it ever does. That way my money would go to where it belongs.

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Well if it's not even planned to be released in US, I wouldn't consider downloading it there a big deal.

Personally, I'd rather download it for free with torrents than pay some pirate/mafia-douchebag for someone else's work, if those two were the only options. Besides, after downloading, you can always buy the movie if it comes properly available in your area.

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, bought it, saw it, liked it. The copy I received looked legit and not like a garage pirate job, with professional packaging, labeling etc.

I very much enjoyed the film. It was well done and interesting, since I don't know much about the Finnish army of that period beyond the superficial stuff.

Really nice views of StuG's, T-34's, T-34/85's and (surprise) a KV-1 in action. The interior shots are seemingly faked, which was a bit of a disappointment, but the exterior views are crisp and it's neat to see the suspensions work and to hear the engine and track noises as they sounded in the field.

There were a couple quick views of T-26's or BT's but they were not detailed shots and I suspect the tanks were replicas and not originals...IIRC another Finnish movie some years ago had some replica T-26's built for it and perhaps they were recycled here.

Well worth the $15 bucks including shipping. Not Oscar material - acting was merely OK - but very groggy and credible from a technical and suspension of disbelief standpoint. A moderate amount of believable gore and pretty gripping battle scenes.

Sort of a re-enactors' dream movie, if you will.

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By gunnergoz

Really nice views of StuG's, T-34's, T-34/85's and (surprise) a KV-1 in action.

Alas, the KV is a fiberclass superstructure on T-54/55 chassis. So is the ISU-152 seen in a few brief shots. The scenes are so well made it is hard to spot that unless you know what you are looking at.

These vehicles are recycled from the Unknown Soldier remake. The rest of the stuff is legit vintage.

The interior shots are seemingly faked, which was a bit of a disappointment, but the exterior views are crisp and it's neat to see the suspensions work and to hear the engine and track noises as they sounded in the field.

I think the Stug interior shots were made using a Stug training vehicle with its side cut off which is in storage in the Finnish Armour museum. But don't quote me on that. I'll have to check to see if there is anything in the DVD extras on that though.

There were a couple quick views of T-26's or BT's but they were not detailed shots and I suspect the tanks were replicas and not originals...IIRC another Finnish movie some years ago had some replica T-26's built for it and perhaps they were recycled here.

The T-26 in the movie is the real deal. They used real T-26's in the Talvisota movie and this is surely one of them. The T-26's used in Talvisota got car engines get them running but otherwise they were genuine war booty tanks.

What is more the armoured platoon composition (T-26 command vehicle with T-34 and KV-1 as the combat element) is historically accurate.

Well worth the $15 bucks including shipping. Not Oscar material - acting was merely OK - but very groggy and credible from a technical and suspension of disbelief standpoint.

They used only a few well known professional actors in the movie, mostly in the HQ scenes. The rest were amateurs and it shows.

A moderate amount of believable gore and pretty gripping battle scenes.

It got K-11 (PG ?) rating here in Finland and I think some schools went to see it as a part of their history studies.

Sort of a re-enactors' dream movie, if you will.

Well said.

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Not Oscar material - acting was merely OK - but very groggy and credible from a technical and suspension of disbelief standpoint.

How does it compare to that steaming pile "Come and See"? Okay, or laughably horrible, with wooden dialog?

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How does it compare to that steaming pile "Come and See"? Okay, or laughably horrible, with wooden dialog?

Well, compared to Western war film standards, C&S was pretty lame and different - but then again, most Americans' families haven't had firsthand experience or recent memories with the Holocaust or with the behavior of SS troops as did the Ukrainians and Russians.

Given that type of memory and immediacy, C&S was a pretty fair rendition of how they think and feel about the era.

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Well, compared to Western war film standards, C&S was pretty lame and different - but then again, most Americans' families haven't had firsthand experience or recent memories with the Holocaust or with the behavior of SS troops as did the Ukrainians and Russians.

Nor do they have first hand experience of the attrocities committed by the partisans.

Given that type of memory and immediacy, C&S was a pretty fair rendition of how they think and feel about the era.

Given the fact the movie is a Soviet era production I think it is safe to say "C&S was a pretty fair rendition of how they think and feel about the era" as told by the Soviet government. After all Byelorussia was also the scene of the one of the most widespread post-war anti-Soviet resistance in the USSR.

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Well, compared to Western war film standards, C&S was pretty lame and different

Not just lame, but terrible. Poor acting, cheesy stereotypes, confused/boring plot, the works. I had to take three tries before I made it all the way through. Just because it's a war movie does not excuse it any more than the Hollywood love triangle crap made over here. I know I'm going against the grain here, but I still think it was horrible.

Given that type of memory and immediacy, C&S was a pretty fair rendition of how they think and feel about the era.

I'm not disputing the message, just the delivery. You don't diss Shakespeare because the play you saw was performed by junior high school on amateur night. But that's no reason to hold it up as a shining example, either.

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