Overrated and overhyped

hyped garbage

best movie i've ever seen.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Edvin Laine did it first and brought Väinö Linna's Tuntematon Sotilas to the big screen.The year was 1955.Tuntematon Sotilas (1985) is directed by Rauni Mollberg.Linna's novel is a classic, which I read last year.And so is the first version of the novel.They show it on every Independence Day (Dec 6) here in Finland.This year, that marked the 94th anniversary of our country, made no exception.I didn't watch it this year, but instead I borrowed this new version from the library.The cast consists of some known names, and there are also a lot of amateur actors.The more known names are Risto Tuorila (Koskela), Pirkka-Pekka Petelius (Hietanen), Paavo Liski (Rokka), Pertti Koivula (Lahtinen), Kari Väänänen (Lammio), Veikko Tiitinen (Kaarna), Risto Salmi (Korpela) and Yrjö Parjanne (Colonel).This doesn't get too close to the original.The 1980's war between Finland and Russia differs pretty much from the 1950's version of it.The battle scenes look good, but what I missed was the humor of the first movie.There's some, but it's not very funny.Even though it's war, it doesn't have to be so serious.Often, in horrendous situations, such as war, humor is the way to cope with it.The original is a classic, this is just a decent war movie.

Rauni Mollberg's version of the Unknown Soldier, the novel of Väinö Linna, has always been the one that has been compared to the first movie version directed by Edvin Laine 30 years earlier. The times have changed between 1955 and 1985 and it shows. Laine's Unknown was jolly and cheerful, almost farce-like when compared to this one. Mollberg's Unknown is grimmer and wants to show the darker shades even darker and deeper than the first one. Laine skips the difficult themes like plundering of enemy cities and the executions of the soldiers sentenced in court-martial quite quickly or doesn't handle them at all. Mollberg obviously wants to dig deeper in them but hasn't left out any of the original scenes either. Hence the titanic length of the film.When one has seen the Laine's version so many times as, for example, I have, it is difficult to form an objective opinion about Mollberg's version. The first impression stresses the darkness and seriousness of the atmosphere. It would be OK, if all the actors seemed natural, but they don't. Of course, all the actors in the first version don't seem natural either, but hey, it's Laine's Tuntematon Sotilas! Who cares!? This one gets better along the way, though. You get used to the "new sides of the characters" and forgive some of their faults compared to the old ones. I have to say I haven't read the novel so fortunately I don't have to compare this film to the book. Fortunately, because the book usually overcomes the movie versions. Because of my illiterate manners, I cannot compare this film to the original novel, and again, cannot say how much this one is more or less true to the novel than Laine's film. Therefore, I can only compare these two films. This version has its strengths. It is in some ways more realistic and brings out the characters more than Laine's version, which is almost like an action movie because of its fast pace and light atmosphere. But sometimes Mollbergs Unknown is almost too dark and grim to believe. This is a nice film but it doesn't compare to the first one, which, unfortunately for this film, is a legend. However, Mollberg's Unknown couldn't make it without Laine's version, because to me, it could not stand alone without the legendary memories experienced with the scenes in the first one. Mollberg's Unknown adds something to the "one and only" but that's all there is to it. I first and foremost recommend Laine's Unknown and after that, if you have some extra four hours on your hands, take a look at this Mollberg's view.

I find the 1985 version of "Tuntematon sotilas" far superior over the older version. The new version is much more realistic in its description of the war. The actors are of real age instead of the original movie. Also all the battle scenes really give the feeling of chaos when defensive lines are shattered and despair takes over the men.The film describes continuation war with good accuracy. Also I like how the characters develop over the film. At start the green men who are panicking easily and so afraid of the enemy who they don't even see... To the heroic defensive battles against Russian tank hordes at the end.Many of the since-unknown actors have now become main pillars of Finnish movies and entertainment. Mollberg's idea of using less famous people than Laine did in his version works. When movie was released the faces weren't familiar - and so the characters are much more neutral.All-in-all I consider the 1985 Tuntematon sotilas as one of the best and realistic war movies ever made, close to second is "Winter War" - another Finnish war movie.

Essentially the same plot as the infinitely superior version made 30 years prior, UNKNOWN SOLDIER (TUNTEMATON SOTILAS, 1985) provides little new and is very amateurishly made. The camera work is almost completely hand-held and there is little or no lighting or attempt to make any of the visuals even the slightest bit aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes the cameraman just drifts back and forth from subject to subject with little or no reason to do so - it's like a home video made in a war zone! This is a remake in the true sense of the word. All the main episodes from the original 1955 version are redone, with a little exception as to when and where a few characters die. Like the original, it's awfully episodic but it doesn't carry any of the drama. This is the sort of story that needed the stark black and white, the locked-down camera angles, and the larger than life 50's-style acting to bring the book pages to life.The '85 version is overall quite poor and unimpressive as a war drama or action film. I went to some lengths to find it and import it into the states, and I feel as though I wasted my money. But don't let that dissuade you from watching the excellent 1955 original TUNTEMATON SOTILAS, or even better TALVISOTA (THE WINTER WAR, 1989) which is sort-of a prequel to this film... in that it shows what the Continuation War was a continuation of.