Best Finnish war movies

When an ex-soldier who discovers gold in the Lapland wilderness tries to take the loot into the city, German soldiers led by a brutal SS officer battle him.

The film follows Finnish army machine gun company in Continuation War against Soviet Union, 1941–1944. Based on Väinö Linna's best selling novel Tuntematon Sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) and the novel's uncensored version, Sotaromaani (A War Novel).

Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.

It is the summer of 1941. An eastern-Finnish machine gun company receives an order to turn in their surplus equipment. The company is transferred to the front lines. The next morning the soldiers wake to the sound of guns – the war has begun.

Jussi Ketola, returns to Finland from the great depression struck America only to face growing political unrest. One summer night of 1930, nationalist thugs violently abduct Ketola from his home. Beaten and forced to walk the Eternal Road towards a foreign Soviet Russia, where cruelty seems to know no end, his only dream is to return to his family cost it what it may. Hope dies last.

1943: Nine-year-old Eero whose father is killed during the war is brought to Sweden to foster parents to his protection like thousands of other Finnish children. Eero feels lost, particularly as his foster mother Signe behaves very unfriendly. She was expecting a little girl and still mourns for her daughter who drowned in the sea.

Second silver screen adaption of the Finnish war book by Väinö Linna. The story is based on Linna's experiences as an infantry man in the Finnish army during the so called "Continuation War" (1941-1944).

Helena has worked as a kind of midwife on the eve of the Lapland War. She wants to leave everything behind, and a suitable opportunity arises when she falls in love with a German-Finnish officer Johannes, who is leaving to German-led Titovka prison camp in the Soviet Union. Helena enlists into the camp as a nurse, where she experiences the brutality of war.

It is the summer of 1941 and the Finnish army has been mobilized along the border with Russia. A platoon led by Lt. Eero Perkola is waiting for orders to go on the offensive. The platoon receives orders for a recon mission through the wilderness around the Lieksa lake to search for possible Russian defensive positions.

The Soviet army breaks through the Finnish defences on the Karelian Isthmus in June 1944, advancing with overwhelming force. Somehow, the Finnish troops must find the strength to fight back, with all odds against them. The Battle of Tali-Ihantala was the largest battle ever fought in the history of the Nordic countries. This film depicts the true events through five separate stories.

Parikka, the actor once called the Funniest Man in Finland, and his troupe are about to be executed for the atrocities committed during the Civil War in Finland. Jaeger Lieutenant Nyborg, an admirer of Parikka, suspects a definite miscarriage of justice. He wants to save the actors. The forthcoming visit of the German General von der Goltz to the prison island provides him with a suitable opportunity. Nyborg suggests that the actors prepare a comical performance for the visitor and not be shot. Instead, they will be given a new trial. Preparing a comedy in the horrible circumstances, in the midst of hunger and death, seems quite an overwhelming task. Only a handful of real actors are still alive, the rest of the troupe consists of stagehands. Parikka has to use all his inventive skills to be able to produce something funny.

There is civil war in Finland between "Whites" and "Reds". A woman soldier of the Reds is captured by the Whites. She is ordered to be executed. A lieutenant is enforced into a homosexual relationship with his commanding officer to save the Red female with whom he is infatuated.

A drama between people under unconventional circumstances. In the Second World War Finland was the only nation who brought casualties killed-in-action back to be buried at home. These actions were carried out by men and women working in assembly centres near enemy lines. Silence is a story of a group of people in a limbo between life and death, in a mental no-man's- land, where heaven and hell, horror and joy, love and fear touch each other.

The film tells about members of Finnish women's Lotta Service during the Second World War through the eyes of three young women.

War and Peace of Mind explores what war does to the human mind and how both, the individuals and the nation as a whole, survive it psychologically. Finland and WWII, locally known as continuation war, is the backdrop of this documentary.

Akseli Koskela returns from prison and tries to learn living again. He's not allowed to take part in politics anymore, but he sees a lot of injustice around him. He raises a family with his wife Elina while another war is around the corner...

When Continuation War started in Summer 1941, German soldiers arrived to Oulu. With their charm they conquered women and town boys. Finnish boys communicated with them on many levels: had trades, worked as interpreters, rotated business, spied on German love adventures and fought with each other about the favor of soldiers. In autumn 1944, the war was ending. Germans left Oulu by leaving behind fragile relationships, bastard kids and unfinished businesses. The most shocking of all was the faith of young Jake...

Two Finnish filmmakers and an international team of divers embark on a quest to find the lost WWII German U-boat, U-479, in the Gulf of Finland. Despite Soviet claims of its sinking by the submarine Lembit, unanswered questions prompted the filmmakers to investigate the mystery firsthand.

In August-September of 1939 Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin divided up the European countries between themselves, via a secret annex protocol in the Soviet-German non-aggression pact. Empowered by this document, Germany invaded Poland on 1. September 1939. Two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War was on. Due to the territorial divisions of the secret annex protocol, Finland ended up the target of attacks lunched by the Soviet Union, first on 30. November 1939 (the Winter War) and then again on 25. June 1941 (the Continuation War). In spite of the harsh conditions and having to fight an overwhelming enemy, Finland managed to keep her independence.

Manillaköysi is a cult status holding TV-movie adaptation of the satirical war novel by Veijo Meri. Manillaköysi has an endless list of classic one-liners, but it is still not based on cheap laughs or anything like that. The whole humouristic aspect of it comes from describing the absurdity of war, and the whole military system, by looking it with the eyes of a simple man, who's thrown into it, and who simply does not give a rats ass of it all. The tone of it is not overly preachy or moralizing. If I would have to describe it with one word, it would be: unglamourizing. The main point of Manillaköysi is pretty much compressed in one of the most famous quotes of it: There is nothing supernatural about war, it is just work like anything else.

Lieutenant Takala meets his fellow partisans of 20th division many year after the war. With flashbacks we see the events of summer 1944.

Fire, water, wind, earth and emptiness... Five core elements of life that once inspired a book. The Book of Fate. Far away from here there was a mythical world -free of suffering and injustice. But it wasn't enough. People wanted to play God... They created a pen to control the Book of Fate. Mightier than a sword, it could write off deeds -and bring back the dead. But the book gave power, power caused fear -and fear brought suffering. And the suffering caused wars. Darkness fell on earth, making demands on the pen and the book. But the book was gone. It was thought to be lost forever -but hundreds of years later it reappeared on a small planet called Earth. The prophecy says: Only the chosen will get a second chance from the book. The destiny of the chosen one is to guide the book back. But his journey will be long, filled with errors and grief. This is his story.

Depicting the Finnish Civil War from the White army's point of view. Lieutenant Melin's soldiers mission is to penetrate the heart of the city and overtake the Nasilinna Palace from the Reds.

Set during the Second World War in the Finnish war zone.

During the final years of the World War II, Finnish sergeant Myllykoski and his fellow soldiers are forced to join the notorious Waffen-SS on a mission to find a mythical medieval chalice in the Soviet Union.

Evakko is a portrayal of Soviet-Finnish winter war of 1939/40 and the associated evacuations in different parts of the country. It tells the story of a Karelian family along with their whole village who were forced to leave their homes because of the war. The film has a surprisingly perky tone for the subject matter.

The boisterous good humor of Jurmala, the nickel-mine owner, is, if anything, only barely dented by the raging battles in Finland before, during and after World War Two. In fact, everywhere he goes, he meets prospective customers on all sides of the conflict with his all-inclusive greeting "Friends, Comrades." Indeed, the resource he is wrenching from the earth's bowels is necessary to all forms of industrial activity, and is especially necessary for military applications. Thus, he has no reason to fear that he will ever run out of customers. This doesn't prevent him from using every possible means to entice them. At home, his relationship with his wife is not so prosperous, and they resort to some extraordinary means to try and keep on an even keel.

The dance film When the Night Falls tells the story of a woman fleeing the horrors of a collapsing society in the near future. Along the way, she encounters people on whose trust her entire future depends on.

In summer 1944 Finnish Karelia, Martta hastily marries Aarne before evacuating alongside newborn Hilkka’s family, Helmi Elisa and their grandmother as Soviet forces advance. Amidst chaotic retreat, the women struggle to stay united and fatefully intersect with Aarne and Arttu, but the relentless offensive exacts heavy suffering and loss on both civilians and soldiers.

A short story of Juho Ojala — a young solider during the Finnish Continuation War.

Irma has been sent to the front immediately after her marriage to Erik Vuori. Irma and her new "Lotta" companions find themselves in many dangerous situations during the fighting of the Continuation War. Irma is also concerned about Erik's loyalty.

In the summer of 1941, the Karelian youths Wist and Anttala decide to seek family silver hidden under Wist's home behind the border line of the truce.

The story follows Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim and Quartermaster General Airo at the Finnish Defense Forces headquarters in Mikkeli during the decisive moments of the Continuation War in the summer of 1944. With a major offensive on the Karelian Isthmus imminent, Airo gives the order to attack without consulting the commander-in-chief.

The film depicts Finland's actions in the Winter War and Continuation War using a compilation of material collected from narrators, map images, and TK photographers.

A major wounded in war falls in love with a nurse who has been widowed in the hospital. However, their love is hindered by the death of the nurse's husband, for which the major is responsible.

Documentary about Finnish concentration camps build for Russians inhabiting the Karelia area during the Continuation War.

UNKNOWN REDUX is a short movie by Anssi Määttä and Antti Tuominen, where events depicted happen in a fictitious Finland and it's alternative history.

Lotat is a Finnish Documentary about the Lotta Svärd, a Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organization for women.

During the Continuation War, mother Kaarina and son Erkki live at home in a small town while father has been sent to the front. One day the family's life is turned upside down when the father returns home as a deserter from the front .

For six hundred years Sweden had controlled most of Finland until the war with Russia that ended in 1809, when Finland became a Grand Duchy of the Russian Czar. This period drama is set during that early 19th-century war and focuses on one of its heroes, Sven Tuuva. Sven is a decent yet not too brilliant soldier, and his exploits are partly balanced here by the charms of a compatriot.

The film is about the Winter War 1939-40 in Uusimaa, Turku, Pori and Vyborg.

Interviews with key military woman guerrilla leaders, and young girls and old women who took part baring arms or making artisanal bombs, against the regime of General Somoza.