Tuntematon Sotilas (1955)
Directed by Edvin Laine
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
The Finnish Tuntematon Sotilas was released in English-speaking countries as The Unknown Soldier. Based on a novel by Vaino Linna, the story focusses on a group of Finnish soldiers as they defend their borders against Russia during WW2. So grimly explicit were the battle scenes, and so fresh in the memories were the political ramifications of the film, that Tuntematon Sotilas was withdrawn from the Cannes Film Festival at the behest of certain political interests. No matter: the film was one of the most financially successful Scandanavian releases of the mid-1950s. The haunting musical score was cowritten by no less than Jean Sibelius.
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Keywords
against-all-odds, atrocity, soldier, territory, war, war-atrocities