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| Tuntematon sotilas (1985). Kari Väänänen as Lammio. |
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| Tuntematon sotilas (1985). The punishment of the trio. Lehto (Pauli Poranen), Rahikainen (Mika Mäkelä) and Määttä (Ossi-Ensio Korvuo) guarded by Hietanen (Pirkka-Pekka Petelius). |
Okänd soldat.
FI 1985. PC: Arctic-Filmi. P+D: Rauni Mollberg.
For cast and credits see my blog note on Tuntematon sotilas (1985) viewed on 11 April 2005.
2017 restoration credits:
– Yleisradio 2017.
– HD mastered.
– Digitization from the 35 mm original negative: Esko Viitala.
– Restoration and definition of colour: Ilari Paavonen.
– In collaboration with Esa Vuorinen.
– Sound restoration: Ari Lyytikänen.
Dvd – VLMedia 2017 – 1,77:1 [original: 1,66:1] – 218 min
Viewed at home, Helsinki, 26 Aug 2019
THE LONG AND THE SHORT VERSION
There are two versions of the film.
Theatrical version (1985): 199 min
Long television version (1987): 218 min
I saw this long television version when it was telecast in 1987. The theatrical version I saw on 35 mm in the presence of the director Rauni Mollberg at the tribute to him at the Festival of Finnish Cinema in Turku in 2005. I have also reviewed the theatrical version's dvd release by Finnkino in 2007. It included a valuable bonus documentary.
When I saw the long version in its original telecast I felt immediately that the duration was right. I guess the shorter duration of the theatrical version was due to practical reasons of fitting more screenings in a cinema evening and avoiding a break in the screening.
The viewing of this new release confirms my conviction that the longer duration is right.
THE 2017 DIGITAL RESTORATION
Rauni Mollberg's adaptation of the novel is distinguished by a bold and experimental approach to the cinematography by Esa Vuorinen: long takes, handheld tracking shots, and available light in contrast to the classical studio lighting used in Edvin Laine's 1955 adaptation even in exteriors. Visually, Mollberg's concept is a journey into darkness.
In the 2017 digital restoration the definition of light and colour is fundamentally altered. Darkness is eliminated or diminished, and everything is clearly visible like in Laine's film. We can now make more sense of the performances because we see facial expressions much better; the 1985 / 1987 experience was more about an ensemble. This restoration is more about individuals. To sum up: the visual concept of the digital restoration does not do justice to the original; instead, it is a new visual interpretation.
The juicy photochemical bite of the original colour has been retained in the digitization. The colour world is completely different in its warmth and glow from the 2017 digitally photographed adaptation directed by Aku Louhimies and shot by Mika Orasmaa.
MY PREVIOUS ASSESSMENT OF MOLLBERG'S INTERPRETATION
In my MMM Elokuvaopas ([MMM Film Guide] 2005) I summed up Mollberg's interpretation in comparison with Laine. [Present qualifications of mine in square brackets.]
– Still in collaboration with Väinö Linna [1920–1992].
– A wild vision about war.
– Without a drama approach [with an epic approach].
– Without humour [humour is not central].
– Visual concept: obscurity [an intentional approach: a journey into darkness].
– Handheld.
– Characters are less pronounced as individuals.
– Extreme characters are included: Karjula, Viirilä, lotta Kotilainen. [Asumaniemi removed].
– The chaos of the retreat is more pronounced.
NEW OBSERVATIONS
Edvin Laine's film was based on a dramatic, theatrical approach. (But Laine's best films, while seemingly old-fashioned, share affinities with the epic theatre.)
In conscious and intentional contrast, Mollberg shuns the theatrical, the dramatical and the dynamical. Instead, he creates a magnificent visionary epic, an ensemble view of the hell of war.
Laine's film is character-driven, and he has an extraordinary talent in the vignette, creating unforgettable characters instantly and efficiently.
Mollberg's film is image-driven, visionary, poetic, even hallucinatory. Broad outlines are more important than sharply distinguished individuals. Mollberg may even presume that everybody knows the characters already, Linna and Laine having introduced them.
Mollberg makes a point of avoiding a determined progress of the narrative. There is a fumbling, groping, rambling attitude in the cinematography and the diction.
There is an aspect of impressionism, as if the viewpoint were that of a recruit coming to terms for the first time with the shocking reality of war. The film attempts to identify with the very breathing of the unknown soldier. We hear the breathing and the panting.
The film has also a dimension of naturalism, but not as heavily as might have been expected from Mollberg. There is a nude sauna sequence with Lammio and Kotilainen. Korpela's gross insult on Kotilainen is also included.
The dialogue is often mumbling, with affinities with certain practices of Actors Studio and even mumblecore. The whispering quality of the dialogue brings also to mind Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace. It seemed that Bondarchuk wanted to avoid a bombastic impression by letting his characters whisper.
The soundscape is superior to Laine. Visibility often obscured, fearsome sound gains in impact.
There are fine action sequences: the crossing of the river, the attack into the Russian trenches, the occupation of Petroskoi, the retreat over the river with Rokka rescuing Susi. Stunning epic views include the huge caravan of evaquees.
Unlike in Laine's film there is no documentary footage.
The greatest difference between Laine and Mollberg is in Mollberg's emphasis on the brutal summer offensive of the Red Army in the summer 1944, its massive attack in Karelia. The Finnish army has been half-slumbering in trench warfare for two years, but now it's a horrible wakeup time. Most of the men we have followed die. It's not enough that the enemy is overwhelming. Our own officers are clueless and give destructive orders. Whether they are followed or not, there is no way to survive, but the soldiers fight to the finish. Mollberg catches the frenzy of the retreat unflinchingly.
When Laine made his film it was at a distance of only ten years from the war. The trauma of the shocking summer 1944 was unhealed and it was not a good idea to dwell on it.
30 years later it was different, and it was essential to focus on the summer of 1944.
Laine's film has been criticized for using too old actors, but the point was that these actors were war veterans themselves or at least people who had experienced the war.
With Mollberg the personally lived connection was barely possible. Paavo Liski, born in 1939, had childhood memories of the wartime, but almost all other actors had been born after the war. Mollberg employed much younger actors than Linna, which made the film more realistic in that sense.
The general impact is a tribute to people who suffered and risked their lives for their country. But the very feeling, the very being is removed from way of life back then. These people are fundamentally different from the wartime generations.
The people have changed.
...
NB 20 Sep 2019. Notes from a telephone conversation with the DP Esa Vuorinen. The camera was handheld but there was no Steadicam. The sound was 100%. Molle did not theorize. He had a fury to act. There was no analysis. It was hard to understand how a certain solution was arrived at. The method: the long take. A pursuit of the thing in itself (tosiolevainen / Das Ding an sich). The method was like in a documentary. Molle never saw the rushes. He did not want to return to the past. He watched it only once under bad projection circumstances. The first cut was over five hours. No close-ups. The request was three hours. The five hour version does not survive. 13 years abroad. Olli Soinio agreed that the five hour version was very good. The digital restoration: no compensation was offered. I was asked to have a look when it was all finished. I did not participate in the definition of colour. This is the last time I'll be involved. The framings are fucked up. The film looks completely different. It looks like a janitor has conducted the job with his eyes focused on Instagram. The only goal has been to meet standard tv norms.
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