This is just another finnish war drama which are made every year with the same clichès and spices. The package is just a bit different every time. I wonder when they'd stop supporting patriotic films and put the focus on different kind of films that are completely absent in Finnish cinema. There's so much talent that gets wasted if they make the same stuff over and over again.
Knowing the director's background in music videos, it doesn't really surprise that the film seems like a two hour long commercial music video rather than a film about love and war. The problem is that it doesn't touch at all when it should. Character development is non-existent and characters are left vague. All the atrocities are bypassed quite swiftly just as if nothing bad had ever happened. The main character is pregnant but the development of pregnancy is not shown at all. As a viewer i was left with a role of an observer. I was supposed to just admire the scenery.
The film is technically perfect but that's all there is to it. The sex scenes are actually so amusing and lack a good taste so much so that i think it will never get an international release.
To sum it up it's an average finnish war drama from a capable director who gave us Puhdistus some years earlier. It remains as his best film in my opinion. Finnish audiences who've seen war films over and over again might find this film quite tiring. I find Puhdistus more awarding to watch than this.
