The Unknown Soldier (1955)

Original title

Tuntematon sotilas

Directed by

Edvin Laine

Genre

war film

Country

Finland

Runtime

3h 01m

Rated

K-16

Rating

7.3 of 10 from 74 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film follows a group of ordinary Finnish soldiers through the Continuation War against the Soviet Union. It shows their experiences and struggles without focusing on high-ranking officers.

earnestsomberhard-hittingatmosphericclassicpatrioticgrounded

What happens

The Unknown Soldier (Finnish: Tuntematon sotilas, Swedish: Okänd soldat) is a Finnish war film directed by Edvin Laine that premiered in December 1955. It is based on The Unknown Soldier, a novel by Väinö Linna. The story is about the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union as told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers. The film was and remains the most successful movie ever in Finland; about 2.8 million people, or more than half the Finnish population, saw it in theaters, and in 1956, the film won five Jussi Awards, including the award for best director. Its portrayal of Linna's characters is widely accepted as canonical. The film was voted the best Finnish movie by 1,213 respondents in an Internet poll by Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in 2007. The novel would be filmed again in 1985 by Rauni Mollberg and again in 2017 by Aku Louhimies. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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