This oddly toned war movie still remains the definitive film representation of the Continuation War, the part of World War 2 where Finnish and German soldiers fought alongside one another as part of the failed conquest of Russia. THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER wisely remains apolitical, but the rather grim ending feels a tad out of step with the historical reality that Finland was able to quit the war on the most favorable terms of any Axis country, and kept its government, military, and most of its pre-war territory intact.

The film follows a group of Finnish soldiers around beginning with their mobilization in the late summer of 1941 up to the major retreats of 1944. Mostly we focus on Koskela, the high-spirited goof-ball of the group, and to a lesser extent a defiant and selfish corporal Lehto, and later in the film by the angry volunteer Karelian farmer corporal Ante Rokka. Rokka is played by a non-actor (heavily resembling a young Eli Wallach) who however delivers such an animated and impassioned performance that he easily steals the whole movie. Most of the last half of the film are various acts of battlefield heroism interspersed with vignettes where one of the veterans will take a green recruit under his wing only to lose them in ensuing battle.

There's a lot of good action and the stark black and white photography fits the subject matter well and helps to integrate it with the frequent use of stock footage (some of which is quite impressive). The film progresses at a solid pace, covers a lot of story, shows some fun character development, and overall packs a lot into its 3 hour running time.

Unfortunately it's hampered on a few occasions by budgetary constraints and lack of authentic equipment. On two occasions the filmmakers use a Panzer IV to sub in for a Soviet T-34 and it really doesn't work. No Finnish artillery or heavy weaponry is shown outside of stock footage. Another thing which could put a lot of viewers off are the dated exaggerated performances and stereotypical depictions of the officers. Personally I wasn't too fond of the film's frequent forays off-target like a drawn out sequence where most of the platoon gets inebriated on hooch or when three soldiers go AWOL to harass some Soviet women who proceed to happily dance for them.

However it's all much, much better presented than the 1985 remake and works very well as a "bridger film" going from TALVISOTA to TALI IHANTALA 1944 for those of you looking for a filmed historical time-line of Finland's Karelian front in World War 2. Overall I can say that for the time and budget, this film really is quite good and Finns can proudly look upon this as their version of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

Over the decades, Väinö Linna's The Unknown Soldier (1954) has become one of the most popular and beloved Finnish novels of all time, despite initial criticism and controversy about the naturalistic and gritty portrayal of the soldiers' life on the front. When the book was understandably very quickly adapted to the big screen, the directing duties were given to Edvin Laine who would later go on to direct the film adaptations of Linna's epic novel trilogy Here Under the North Star as well. Like the book, the film has become one of the cornerstones of Finnish fiction: the film is shown on television every Independence Day and the book is widely read in schools. Having read the novel twice and seen the movie several times, I can confirm that their classic reputations are very much deserved.

Set during the Continuation War (1941-44),The Unknown Soldier tells the story of a machine gun company consisting mostly of young inexperienced men from all around Finland. At the beginning, the drafted men cheerily leave for the front when the war between Finland and the USSR breaks out again after the brief Interim Peace era. Gradually they grow more and more disillusioned with their chances of ever winning the war and a grudge against the strict commanding officers grows among the company. Battle after battle old friends are killed and new soldiers brought to the front, but the men have only their own spirit to trust.

The character gallery is too numerous to be listed entirely, but all the soldiers have their place in the story and many have become commonly referenced archetypes of different types of Finnish men. It is difficult for me to pick my favourites among them, but the most essential ones include at least Antti Rokka (Reino Tolvanen),an older and very skilled soldier with an anti-authoritarian attitude, Koskela (Kosti Klemelä),a calm and respected platoon leader, and the highly uptight and often ridiculed company commander Lammio (Jussi Jurkka). Particularly Rokka has reached a legendary status in Finnish culture; his rich Karelian dialect, self-confident antics and superior skills mix excellently into an extremely entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny character. On the other hand, Koskela and Lammio can be seen as the two opposites of leader types; in their personas, practical and theoretical approaches to leadership often clash, even if Koskela would prefer his men to not constantly provoke his superiors' anger.

At the risk of the review becoming too list-like, I cannot leave some other great characters without a mention. The personalities range from the always cheery Vanhala and Hietanen (Leo Riuttu and Heikki Savolainen) to the brooding and menacing Lehto and Lahtinen (Åke Lindman and Veikko Sinisalo),the frightened Riitaoja (Olavi Ahonen),the hilariously eccentric Honkajoki (Tarmo Manni),the business-savvy Rahikainen (Kaarlo Halttunen) and the idealistic Kariluoto (Matti Ranin). The men's diverse dialects are probably mostly lost in translation, but for Finnish-speaking viewers they provide one of the main charms of the whole film; personally I enjoy especially Rokka and Rahikainen's wide Karelian way of speech. Despite the excellent performances, I have to agree with the common criticism against the film: a lot of the actors are obviously too old for their roles and subsequently their behaviour seems overly juvenile at many points. Also, due to this the young men's age difference to the experienced Rokka is not as clear as it is said to be. The age issue does not ruin the experience though, not at all; most of the veteran actors handle their roles magnificently. The memorable performances also help the viewer to distinguish the characters from each other, as the downside of having a large cast is that the film may seem difficult to follow to those who have not read the book.

Like many screen-versions of famous novels, the film downplays the importance of the characters' inner thoughts and focuses more on the action-driven plot which is followed pretty faithfully even though some characters and subplots have been dropped. I especially wish the sadistic relationship of Lehto and Riitaoja was paid more attention in the film as it has always been one of my favourite aspects of the novel, but luckily the spectacular action scenes make up for the thinner characters. The explosions, weaponry, artillery and tanks look very authentic, making especially the final crescendo of chaotic turmoil very impressive. Many other iconic moments also belong among the most famous scenes in Finnish cinema: Lehto's big solution, Rokka single-handedly taking down dozens of Russians with a submachine gun, the tragic demise of one of the main characters in a burning ambulance... However, many of the smaller death scenes have come to look rather theatrical and oddly bloodless by modern standards. In any case, the character chemistry is excellent, thanks to Linna's writing and the charismatic actors.

Jean Sibelius' Finlandia beautifully bookends the visually gorgeous masterpiece that never feels boring despite the runtime of nearly three hours – both entertaining and serious, The Unknown Soldier belongs without a doubt among the most essential of Finnish films ever made.

Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) is an epic story and part of Finland's history. The movie is based on famous Finnish novel by Väinö Linna, and it is set in the Continuation War (1941-44),just about a year after the Winter War, between Finland and Soviet Union. The movie is fully black and white.

The Unknown Soldier focuses on a very diverse group of soldiers and is packed with black humour. The different Finnish dialects, that make a huge part of the fun in the jokes, are understandable only for people who know Finnish, but the overall feeling is there in the amazing acting by Reino Tolvanen (Rokka),Kosti Klemelä (Koskela) and Pentti Siimes (Määttä) - to name a few. The most powerful scene is probably the one where Lehto, Määttä and Rahikainen are stubbornly serving their disciplinary duty after refusing to obey their superiors - directly under the enemy aerial fire.

The Unknown Soldier is one of the most realistic war movies ever made. It shows the horrible facts: people die for their home land and it's not pretty. The Finnish soldiers fight against the tenfold enemy in impossible situations. They made heroic acts in their attempt to save their country, and many of these acts have been captured brilliantly in the movie as well. But the true fact of war - death - is always around, even among the war heroes. War does not make one great.

The teaching of The Unknown Soldier is that even a small country has a chance in war against an impossible enemy if the will to protect the homeland is strong enough, the people are stubborn enough and are ready to die for freedom.

The main music in the film - Jean Sibelius' Finlandia is legendary.