Film: Ambush 1941
Release date: 21st March 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 123 mins
Director: Olli Saarela
Starring: Peter Franzen, Irina Bjorklund, Kari Heiskanen, Taisto Reimaluoto, Kari Vaananen
Genre: Drama/War
Studio: Scanbox
Format: DVD
Country: Finland
Cinema has long been obsessed with war. For decades audiences have dined out on feasts of World War One and Two films, Vietnam movies, and more recently we’ve seen conflicts from the Middle East represented on the silver screen. Olli Saarela’s Ambush 1941 hits the home DVD market soon, bringing an unfamiliar war into our living rooms – the Continuation War between Finland and Russia.
In 1941, Finland is allied with Germany in the fight against the Russians. On the border, Lieutenant Eero Perkola (Peter Franzén) is awaiting the order for his platoon to head into the conflict.
As Eero and his platoon rest in a recently conquered village, he meets up with his fiancée Kaarina Vainikainen (Irina Björklund) – a nurse serving in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps. They spend their first night together after many apart – grateful that both have survived up to now.
Later, as Eero negotiates a return home for Kaarina, he volunteers to undertake a dangerous sortie into enemy territory: his platoon is to stage a reconnaissance mission searching for Russian positions in the wilderness near the Lieksa Lake.
During the course of the mission terrible news reaches Eero – news which has a devastating effect on his platoon, as he becomes increasingly indifferent about his own safety and that of his men…
The movie begins promisingly as Eero’s platoon reach the safety of a village with a hospital. Parking their bicycles (the preferred mode of transport for troops at the time), they seek respite from the fighting. Having already seen Eero gazing longingly at a photo of his lover, it is very apparent that their paths are set to cross very soon. And so it proves as they meet in the street.
Unfortunately, the love story between Eero and Kaarina fails to ignite the passion. A surprisingly tender and intimate sex scene is beautifully played and shot, but really it’s the only window we get into their relationship – other than some clunkily constructed flashbacks strewn haphazardly throughout the film. It’s underdeveloped and unsatisfying – a shame as Björklund seemed like a genuinely charismatic actress in the short time she spent on screen.
Perhaps as a result, it’s difficult to engage with Eero. He’s not an enormously pleasant character, and his humanity is only hinted at prior to him starting to emotionally unravel. With a not entirely convincing relationship as our only evidence of his caring nature, it’s hard to reconcile the idea of him as a heroic leader with the reality – that of a lieutenant who leads by example rather than through force of personality or charisma. The actor playing him, Peter Franzén, either performs extremely subtly or is rather inexpressive. It seems more like the latter until the film moves into the second half, when his emotions do become more apparent. Either way, it’s not a strong enough performance to carry the story, and the film suffers as a result.
The blame for that may lie partly in the scripting and direction of Ambush 1941. There’s a real lack of information as to what the character’s personal motivations are or – more importantly – what exactly the platoon’s mission is. The fact that the troops are rather rudderless undermines Eero’s position as leader. But it also undermines the clarity of the plot. Long before the end, the movie becomes unfocused – and it’s difficult to stay interested in a story which seems so aimless. It seems that prior knowledge of the Continuation War would have been beneficial. Perhaps the Finnish audience, for whom the film was originally intended, would be au fait with the details of the war, but for the uninitiated, it’s slightly confusing. Perhaps a few captions setting the scene prior to the action would have deepened the viewers’ understanding.
Although technically well made, it’s never a visually arresting film – it seems that Olli Saarela’s fall back technique when creating drama is to light his actors from underneath. It’s tried and tested but overused here. There are very few handsomely crafted scenes, but the few battles which take place employ far too much slow-motion. Strange cutaway scenes are also used within those fights – an idea which serves only to undermine any tension previously created.
Sadly, the majority of the other characters are just as difficult to warm to as Eero. The usual clichéd brigade of vulnerable youngsters, grizzled veterans and slightly unhinged soldiers form the core group around which the action centres. With such scant characterisation, it’s difficult to care what fate befalls them. It’s a major flaw of the movie that so little emotion can be invested in the men, and that lack of emotional involvement does the story a major disservice. Stronger, more believable characters might have papered over some of the cracks in the plot.
Not only are the platoon a predictable bunch, but so are some of the set-pieces. How many times have movie fans watched someone pinned down by enemy fire as their comrades struggle to help them? How many war movies have seen a prisoner of war become a cause of tension, arguments or violence? To its credit, Ambush 1941 certainly never shies away from portraying the brutal and cruel side of war. Unfortunately, whatever the film might have had to say about the Finnish/Russian conflict is lost amidst the hackneyed, colour-by-numbers approach to portraying the hardships and trials of war on screen.
A war movie with such a distinct focus on human drama needs to ensure that it can sustain the audience’s interest throughout. Despite featuring a ‘new’ conflict and some neat period touches, Ambush 1941 fails to grab the viewer. This kind of film has been made many times before – and often much more successfully. RW
