Palava maa / Burnt Earth

 

John Webster: Palava maa / Burnt Earth (FI 2025).

John Webster: Palava maa / Burnt Earth (FI 2025). The protagonists I. My screenshot.

John Webster: Palava maa / Burnt Earth (FI 2025). The protagonists II. My screenshot.

John Webster: Palava maa / Burnt Earth (FI 2025). The protagonists III. My screenshot.

Eldens rike.

    Documentary.

    FI 2025 Yellow Film & TV Oy. PC: Yellow Film & TV Oy, Ventana-Film GmbH, J. W. Documentaries Oy. P: Eveliina Kantola, Marko Talli.

    D+SC: John Webster. DP: Jarkko T. Laine – colour – release format: DCP. M: Pessi Levanto. S: Pietari Koskinen. ED: Niels Pagh Andersen, John Webster.

    Featuring: see three screenshots from the end credits.

    Loc: Coimbra, Nelas, Ourém (Portugal).

    102 min

    Languages: Finnish, Portuguese, English. Finnish subtitles: Tiina Kinnunen.

    Premiere: 26 Sep 2025 – distributor: SF Studios.

    2026 Jussi Awards Nominee: Best Documentary.

    Vimeo link for Jussi Awards viewed at home in Paris, 26 Feb 2026

OFFICIAL SUMMARY: "John Websterin ohjaama dokumenttielokuva Palava maa seuraa Portugalin laajoja ja tuhoisia maastopaloja sammuttamaan lähteneitä suomalaisten pelastuslaitosten pelastajia. Palojen voimakkuus ja arvaamattomuus on sellaista, jota Suomessa ei voi kokea, ja pelastajat oppivat äärimmäisissä työolosuhteissa paljon. Vahva yhteisöllisyys ja kaverien auttaminen ovat oleellisia asioita rankassa tiimityössä."

AA: John Webster's Palava maa is a powerful record from the frontline of the ecocatastrophe. It is also the masterpiece of the director, surpassing even the devastating Eye to Eye (FI 2020).

It is a sober documentary constructed like an instruction manual. A Finnish team of firefighters is sent to Portugal to join Portuguese veterans who are experienced in wildfires many times more devastating than have been seen in the North yet. The Finns are sent to participate and learn. A fire like this is like a wild animal who can surround you and surprise you with a rear attack all of a sudden. We learn about techniques such as fighting fire with fire. (Burning an area ahead of the fire in order to rob it from fuel.)

Palava maa is a movie about team spirit, in fact, two team spirits. In danger, you have to be able to know and trust your partners instinctively. The Finns in Portugal are like huge bears, but a smaller fighter can be more agile. A recurring comic feature is about the Portuguese speaking a lot and Finns saying nothing although listening with attention. Howard Hawks might have liked Palava maa.

Palava maa is a catastrophe movie and an action movie in the documentary idiom. A film about calamity, topical and metaphorical. Apocalypse Now all the time. It would be natural to panic, but the fighters stay calm and collected. John Webster's assured touch is also in well-judged contrast to the alarming scenery. He knows the wisdom of great action cinema of alternating action with contemplation.

From Portuguese veterans we learn how wildfires have grown worse. An enormous change has taken place during the last 20 years. What took a week to burn flashes past now in two days. An area the size of the European Union burns globally every year.

In charge of the superb cinematography is Jarkko T. Laine, building on a vision of extreme contrast. He captures both the divine beauty of the nature and the horror of the hell fire razing it to the ground. Supporting him in adrenaline-rushing ways is footage from firefighters' helmet cameras. They add the urgency of the subjective experience, the first person viewpoint, the most direct kind of cinema.

A frightening, necessary and magnificent movie and a celebration of a team spirit that is our only salvation. Obrigado!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Pelastusopisto.

Portugalin kansallinen hätä- ja pelastusviranomainen (ANEPC).

Portugalin pelastustoimen erikoisyksikkö (FEPC).

Suomen maastopalomuodostelma FI GFFF.

Sisäministeriö.

FEPC-tukikohdat: Almeirim, Sobreira Formosa, Trancoso.

Pohjois-Savon Pelastuslaitos: Iisalmen pelastusasema.

Etelä-Karjalan pelastuslaitos: Luumäen pelastusasema.

Pohjois-Karjalan pelastuslaitos: Joensuun pelastusasema, Lieksan pelastusasema, Nurmeksen pelastusasema.

Kymenlaakson pelastuslaitos: Haminan pelastusasema.

Euroopan komissio, ECHO-pääosasto.

Euroopan komissio, JRC.

Helsingin VPK.

Etelä-Savon pelastuslaitos: Kangasniemen ja Mäntyharjun pelastusasemat.

Kymenlaakson pelastuslaitos: Kouvolan pelastusasema.

Pohjois-Savon pelastuslaitos: Neulamäen pelastusasema.

Nurmeksen terveysasema.