Though not commonly recognized in the west, Helsinki, Finland for years claimed one of the most violent and lethal urban undergrounds of any European metropolis. Its checkered criminal history inspired a jarring nonfiction tome, Rööperi - The Years of Crime 1955 - 2005 by Harri Nykänen and Tom Sjöberg, and now this screen adaptation of the same work, which roughly covers the period of 1966-1979. A Finnish-language ensemble crime drama, it intersects events from the lives of characters swept up in this maelstrom, whose outcomes differ radically: some succeed in going straight, and others find themselves sucked back into crime, while still others die violent deaths. All, however, get into crime for the same reason - to escape from destitution - and stick with it for the same reason: because they have attained an insatiable desire for money and power. Director Aleksei Makela filters it all through the eyes of Koistinen, a local cop who witnesses everything as the years unfurl.
by Nathan Southern
synopsis
