Aika hyvä ihmiseksi

Rätt bra för att vara människa / Pretty Good for a Human Being. FI 1977. PC: Arctic-Filmi Oy. P+D: Rauni Mollberg. SC: Rauni Mollberg, Veikko Korkala, Seppo Heinonen – based on the novels Pikku Pietarin piha, Meidän herramme muurahaisia, and Pekko, runoilijan poika by Aapeli - and on elements from the works of Toivo Pekkanen and Olavi Siippainen. DP: Hannu Peltomaa. M: Harri Tuominen, Asser Fagerström. AD: Seppo Heinonen. ED: Hannu Peltomaa, Jorma Kuusisto. Cast: Olavi Ahonen (health inspector, "egg master" Hyttinen), Lauri Arajuuri ("money eater" Sulo Riippa), Ossi Aronen (Pietari), Esko Hannula (blacksmith Rusko), Irma Junnilainen (Klory), Vappu Jurkka (Mrs. Rusko), Martti Kainulainen (janitor Harakka), Einari Ketola (Kastikainen), Marja Korhonen (Rakel Riippa), Lilga Kovanko (dancer), Hannes Lukinmaa (Vennu), Sirkka Metsäsaari (Vetterantska), Roni Mikkonen (Hati), Toivo Mäkelä (photographer Hurme), Mikko Nousiainen (police officer Metso), Eila Pehkonen (Mrs. Harakka), Risto Salmi (market vendor Jormalainen), Veikko Salmi (watchmaker), Asko Sarkola (director Palkeinen), Irma Seikkula (Mrs. Hurme), Liisi Tandefelt (Miss Hilma Kivioja), Topi Tuomainen (house owner Takkunen), Rauha Valkonen (laundress Ida Pirhola), Raili Veivo (Karoliina), Gustav Wiklund (chief of police), Aili Aromäki ("aunt", the watchmaker's mother-in-law), Margit Carpelan (model), Asser Fagerström (pianist), Helge Herala (captain), Vihtori Hokka (old Suojeluskunta / Home Guard member), Kalle Hollo (driver Primus Koljonen), Esko Hukkanen (bailiff), Kauko Hynninen (chief of staff), Mika Hämäläinen (boy with accordeon), Kurt Ingvall (general), Voitto Jokela (violist), Susanna Kiehelä (Liisi Frisk), Irmeli Koskinen (nurse), Paavo Laakso (Kusti), Mikko Lecklin (younger police officer), Kalle Luotonen (poet Pyökki), Salme Paasilinna (the watchmaker's wife), Paavo Pajula (janitor Kuikka), Yrjö Paulo (senior teacher Vähälä, "language man"), Ossi Peura (singer boy), Petri Skinnari (Henry), Maija-Leena Soinne (waitress), Mikko Tanhuanpää (ferryman), Matti Tuominen (doorman Kekäläinen), Kirsti Virkki (Mrs. Pyökki). 131 min. A vintage print with no subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (Rauni Mollberg), 19 May 2010

Revisited a Rauni Mollberg film which I saw on the first run and later only once on dvd. The vintage print had still surprisingly good, juicy colour (DP Hannu Peltomaa), but there was a slight reflection from our second projector.

Rauni Mollberg had a long-term interest in the popular novel Pikku Pietarin piha [The Courtyard of Little Peter] by Aapeli, depicting the life in a small town in the 1920s from the viewpoint of a 10-year old boy called Pietari [Peter] who is on speaking terms with God on his favourite rooftop. Mollberg, then a popular actor in the city of Kuopio, wrote the first theatre adaptation of the novel for summer stock in 1959, and that was the starting point for all future adaptations for the theatre, television, and cinema.

By the time Mollberg was able to do his own cinema adaptation his concept had expanded so much that now Pietari was but one character among many. Aika hyvä ihmiseksi is an ensemble film where there are dozens of characters of equal importance. Mollberg (Molle) emphasizes the historical situation of the 1920's: memories of the traumatic civil war of 1918 keep appearing. Finland had Prohibition, which marked life with hypocrisy and crime.

Mollberg's film is more vital and colourful than Jack Witikka's Pikku Pietarin piha (1961). Mollberg's drawbacks include some tiresome cliches and caricatures and a slight touch of condescension, also evident in Witikka's film. Yet more weighty is an absurd feeling for life, with some affinities with Emir Kusturica, including the use of music. The brass band sounds express here, too, an irrepressible vitality.

The turning point in the adaptations is the appearance of Karoliina, in this film in the middle-point of the story. She brings a breath of fresh air in the sometimes stagnant life of the court-yard and the small town. She is the embodiment of optimism and change. Elsa Turakainen was a pretty good Karoliina in Witikka's film, and Raili Veivo is even better in Mollberg's interpretation.