The Winter War (1989)

The Worst Film Ever

Don't Believe the Hype

A Disappointing Continuation

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I typically get excited when I see a big-budget picture which has been produced by a country whose language is not commonly spoken. Finland definitely qualifies here. These movies are made with extra care and attention to script and detail. Often they are quite long, since if you're going to do it, you may as well get a lot out of it. Talvisota is just such a film. Three hours long and superb quality from start to finish (Finnish?).Firstly, the subject is not familiar to many. It is set in 1939 when Finland was invaded by the Red Army. Interestingly, the fact that the Finns did so well gave other countries (read Germany) an idea that the Red Army could be dealt with quite easily. What I find particularly fascinating in this film is the fantastic insight it gives into Finland and Finnish rural society of the time. Very detailed, equally interesting.After watching this I recommend you watch "Tali Ihantala", a similarly excellent Finnish film about the "Continuation War", set in 1944 when the USSR again invaded. All in all, I can't speak highly enough of these two fine movies. Each deserves a nine.

This is by far the best War film I have ever seen. It truly grips you with the horrors (I have only seen the 195min version) and it is pulled off brilliantly.The story follows the Hakala brothers Paavo and Martti, Both have signed on to the army to defend against the Russians from invading. The truly unique thing about this film is that it actually humanizes the Russians whereas with other war movies it is always biased towards the side that won, most of the other movies set during WWII just say "every Natzi was evil" when not only is that an overused plot element but its just idiotic, most foreign movies are SO much better at making war movies - like Germany made Rosenstrasse a great attempt at filmmaking.This movie truly is one of the greatest of the genres (I have not seen the 125min US version nor the 265min Miniseries). This movie expresses the horrors of War in such a good way that after this I wanted to watch a light-hearted comedy to take my mind off it.Calling it the 81st best War movie is a little Harsh, since when in War movies do you see them not only take on the violence accurately but also focus on the Shellshock? How many times in a war movie does it set a character up for 2 hours only to see him being blown apart with his brother watching? How many times do you see a War film to find out that the side that they intended to root for win but neither the main character or yourself seem too happy about it? All the people that like Saving Private Ryan should watch this to REALLY see the horrors of War (only seen the first hour of SPR and that didn't make me feel the horrors of war as much as this did).EDIT: For anybody who's interested I have a recommendation, the 1985 Tuntematon Sotilas - It's not as good as this though.

It's a Film that is Limited to the Main story,the Soldiers at the Front.It's shows without Mercy also a Sad Site with Fight from Ditch to Ditch.But not like a Rambo Film.It's made in a very realistic Style.The Russian Army had about 4,5 Million,Finland had only about 330000 Men.And this is also in the Film visible.It was a Gruesome War where the finish Puuko,(the well known Finn-Knives,sharp like a Shaving Knive),was really used to cut the Russian Soldiers throat's.(Was me personally telled by a Finish War Veteran.).Not a fine war,but a fight to keep alive. I have read also the Book and have seen now the Film.The Adaption is very realistic told,with much little Details,that give this Film a special touch.The sound is good and the Camera leading excellent.A MUST for every finish History fan.Greez ZV

In my opinion, this is exactly what a war movie should be. It sticks almost entirely to the facts, and even though there is a main character, the action is not glued to him. But furthermore, it all feels very comprehensive - beginning with the mobilization of the Finnish army to fend off the Soviet invasion, and ending with the armistice. The ending, while pretty brief, communicates more with a facial expression than any big final speech could. It's absolutely brilliant.Every element of war is shown or at least hinted at - the poor conditions of the front line, the morale of the troops, the bitter trench fighting, air raids, suicidal charges, sacrificial sapper destruction of tanks, etc. The tanks, uniforms, armament, AT guns, and planes all look historically accurate, and there's plenty of battles and explosions to keep even attention deficit viewers like myself awake through the 3 hour running time. Also exciting are the numerous Russian massed assaults with thousands of extras filling the screen, plus artillery blasting fleeing troops and dead bodies into the air.This is directly what inspired the Germans to make their similar violent and bleak anti-war film STALINGRAD (1993) with lesser results, which took another 5 years for Spielberg and Hollywood to digest, before we got hit with the current crop of war films from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN to THIN RED LINE, WHEN THE TRUMPETS FADE, to DAYS OF GLORY, Eastwood's IWO JIMA flicks, and "BAND OF BROTHERS". All these are done in a style which originated with this movie, the first real bloody hard-hitter of a world war 2 movie (even though the Soviet-Finnish war of '39 was not technically part of World War 2).Totally recommended to even the casual war movie fan. A semi-sequel TUNTEMATON SOTILAS (aka THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER) made in 1955, is not as good but also worth watching, and covers the continuation war which came a year and a half after the close of this film. Avoid the 1985 remake though.