Tuntematon sotilas (1955)

It is the summer of 1941. An eastern-Finnish machine gun company receives an order to turn in their surplus equipment. The company is transferred to the front lines. The next morning the soldiers wake to the sound of guns - the war has begun. The Finnish troops attack and quickly move across the border. The young, nervous rookies of the company get their baptism of fire, and the men become familiar with death and the hardships of war. Under strength and badly equipped they fight a superior enemy. The lists of heroes and of the dead seem endless. Edvin Laine's epic interpretation of Väinö Linna's war novel "Tuntematon Sotilas" is an entire chapter in the book of Finnish movie history.

Tuntematon sotilas has become a part of the Finnish national identity. It is shown on TV every independence day and it is also the most quoted book/movie in Finland. It could be said that the dialoque of tuntematon sotilas is common knowledge in Finland. Indeed, if there is one Finnish film I want my foreign friends to see it is this one.

Tuntematon sotilas is based on a book by Väinö Linna who wrote it on the foundation of his actual war time experiences on the front. Most of the characters are based on real people, although they are more likely combinations of many rather than exact depictions of real life people. It has been said though, that the leading character 'Rokka' is a straight forward copy of one 'Viljam Pylkäs' and that Linna actually had to sensor some of his heroics since the book would not have been realistic enough otherwise.

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