The Winter War (1989) User Reviews

One Of The Most Realistic War Movies Ever Made

[carol-160 · 9/10 · 21 April 2005]

The subject is the little-known war between Finland and Russia in WWII. It is hard to imagine such a small country standing up against mighty Russia, but it happened. You get a vivid sense of the despair and carnage of fighting against overwhelming odds. The random nature of combat also strikes hard. The visuals are graphic and stunning without being over dramatized. The craziness of war is brought home by a Finnish soldier who laughingly lights up a cigarette after having his uniform set aflame by a Russian tank. Quiet moments off the battlefield intersperse the intense battle scenes. If you are a war movie fan then this is a must-see movie!

Reviewed was the English sub-titled version. For anyone primarily fluent in English it is quite interesting to hear dialogue in Finnish, a language far removed from English.

When Hell freezes over.

[darkmage7280 · 9/10 · 31 March 2001]

This movie explores the mostly unknown, and extremely bloody part of Second World War, the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939-40. For 105 days the Finns fought a numerically superior enemy before the war ended with 25,000 Finns and over 200,000 Russians dead. Forget Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, this movie shows what desperate war against overwhelming odds is about; desperation, lack of ammunition, constant bombardment, and nothing but your wits and your rifle to help you survive. Rightfully, the horrors of war are shown having effect on both sides; Finns are pinned down to the point of hardly living at all in dirt and constant fear of death, while Russians are mowed down in hundreds and mercilessly shot in the back. Excellent performances, good effects and marvelous photography makes this masterpiece not only one of the finest Finnish movies ever, but also a reminder that war is brutal, bloody, futile, and that it's the men on the front, Finnish or Russian, who have to die and bear the price for mankind's ultimate stupidity. Word of warning: violence is very graphic at times, especially in the close combat scenes.

Chilling

[Jinx420 · 9/10 · 7 September 2004]

Though I'm not a great fan of war-movies I must say this one made quite the impression. I can't really tell what it was but the story struck me.

Not only did this movie give you a story about the war itself, but also on the impact it had on the families afflicted by it. Excellent acting and a chillingly choice of filming made this movie one to remember. Forget about "saving private ryan" this movie shows a war in all it's roughness without the fancy actors doing their best to be the "brave soldier" (no offense to some, but lots to others). After Full Metal Jacket (to me a totally different genre but still for many a war-movie) one of the favourite movies in the "war-theme"

Hollywood take note

[wille66 · 10/10 · 19 May 2001]

Why are the Europeans so much better at producing hard hitting, gritty war films than those in Hollywood? I wish I knew. Talvisota is an excellent example of this and is infinitely better than what has been produced in the U.S. If you have seen "Saving Private Ryan" or "Enemy at the Gates" and think you have seen the best...you're sadly mistaken. Talvisota and other such films as the German film "Stalingrad" or the French film "Capitaine Conan" are much better at presenting the absolute horror of war and the desperation felt by those men forced to face combat.

I am looking forward to the release of "Pearl Harbor" but am afraid it too will only reinforce what I have stated here.

Rent Talvisota and hopefully you will agree that it is one of the better war films in terms of accuracy and unvarnished drama.

Greatest Finnish war movie?

[psycho1943 · 10/10 · 19 December 2003]

How about one of the greatest war movies from any country? Might have even influenced some of the recent US warmovies to look more realistic with violence and the gritty and dirty look. Always seemed strange how clean the soldiers looked in old warmovies over here. Should be watched by almost everyone to learn some history. Not sure how few Americans know about the Finns kicking Soviet ass much less even where Finland is. Many thanks to you guys for this great movie. Heard there is a Swedish copy with extra scenes I hope to see also. Only complaint is I don't speak Finnish and sometimes had to rewind to see what they said as I got caught up with the combat action.

An unknown gem--one of the most powerful war films ever made.

[NORDIC-2 · 18 February 2000]

TALVISOTA (Winter War) deals with the 1939-40 Russo-Finnish War, a largely forgotten conflict that was one of the most savage wars of the 20th century. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November of 1939 when the Finns refused Stalin's demands to relinquish some of their territory in Karelia. The Finns were outnumbered 50-1 but fought with incredible courage and tenacity and inflicted a half million casualties on the Soviets before they were forced to capitulate in March of 1940. The Russians were equally brave but not as smart; they stormed well defended positions en mass and were mowed down by the hundreds. TALVISOTA brilliantly captures the horror and carnage of that war and all wars. Disturbing and depressing but also a gripping and deeply moving experience. Makes SAVING PRIVATE RYAN look like a walk in the park.

Not as good as I hoped

[egl2r · 7/10 · 7 February 2007]

I wanted to like this movie more than I did. True, the land battle reenactments are pretty impressive and, so far as I could tell, technically realistic. And where else can you see T-26s in action? In other areas, though, the film's low budget (relative to Hollywood) shows, especially with the Russian aircraft, which are pretty obviously radio-controlled models. Those I-16s were just too good to be true! The artillery bombardments and small arms fire are very well handled, however.

More seriously, the film lacks compelling characters or much of a story. It's a pretty straightforward account of several naive young men who go to war and experience hell, but continue to fight bravely to the bitter end. To be fair, the thin plot may be a result of the severely shortened version of the movie available on DVD in the US. Original Finnish prints run 195 minutes; the DVD is 125 minutes.

As it stands, the cut version of the movie will appeal primarily to military history buffs.

I hope it makes you think

[Finne · 9/10 · 12 May 2003]

Not many know of our wars. I really would love to see a movie made that not only describes the conditions and events that led to these wars, but also describes how our parents and their parents experienced the events both in the front and behind. I liked "Saving Private Ryan". I loved "Band of Brothers". But still, it's "Talvisota" and "Tuntematon Sotilas" that really make me feel the weight of war, the effect it has on human mind. "Talvisota" also brings forth the families who saw their fathers, sons, even daughters go to war, with pitiful equipment, maybe even carrying personal rifle as the army could not support them with much else than the blue&white coquards (or what it is called) for their hats. And it shows the pain those families felt when their menfolk came back in wooden caskets or crippled for life. It's also a fine story of personal courage of the ordinary guy, of friendship and loyalty. And of pain and fear.

See it.

And seeing some Russian war-films could also make you see the world a bit brighter. They have filmed some fantastic stories.

A very realistic depiction of the war, just not a very enjoyable film

[cremebluray · 6/10 · 29 December 2015]

I had to write a review because the written reviews here don't seem to match the actual score of the film.

The film follows some young soldiers to the front, but it's exactly what you expect. There is very little in terms of story or character development. It is the equivalent of watching a reenactment of the war rather than a story set in the war. The war itself is in the foreground, the middle ground and the background - it is the be all and end all of the film.

There is very little in terms of film - thoughts, deep dialogues, score, music, iconic scenes, locations, characters, camera movement or anything that makes a film stand out from a webcam on the front.

The film had a small budget and some things look fake, but I wouldn't take 0.5 of my final score for that minor detail. The artillery and guns look, but the action is not exciting. There are very few camera tricks (tracking, pans, follow) or quick cuts that make the action scene exciting, to take us from being observers to participants.

It gets points for being one of the most realistic (in mood) war films. It is not dramatized or fetishized, but it is plain and has no message. It places you there. But that's about all it does. It's as enjoyable as being there in person.

The Winter War is an interesting subject, but I don't think this film does it justice at all. It just shows it, but says nothing about it in any way.

Most realistic war film I've seen

[MightyTiny · 8/10 · 22 November 2005]

This is an excellent film, brutally honest and tightly reality-bound depiction of the defense of Finland against a better equipped, many times larger, but (fortunately!) poorly led Soviet army, in a bone-chilling arctic winter. Like an image of what a hell frozen over would be like.

Though I am a Finn, and understand the language, out of interest I watched the film with English subtitles. I was dismayed to discover how much was lost in the translation; the subtitles are more like short summaries of the gist of what is being said, without any of the flair and flavour.

As such, the film is a bit spartan and bleak for Hollywood-saturated eyes, but so is war.

In all, an excellent war film, depicting the horror of war more tangibly than any other that I've seen, save for "The Thin Red Line".

Not much new in the east either

[arkif1 · 6/10 · 2 January 2009]

Honestly, I can't understand why Russia was unhappy with the release of this film. After all, there was only one unfriendly line about the Soviet Union in the whole film, namely the complaint about the use of explosive ammunition, deemed forbidden by a Finnish soldier and probably was that too, but I don't know the Geneva Convention that well.

On the other hand... after a Finnish soldier decides to use a communist pamphlet for wiping purposes, he gets blown up as the appropriate form of punishment for that kind of sacrilege, I presume...

And that's not the only politically cautionary measure here. The Soviet Union wanted only to secure Leningrad and if the Finnish would have been more reasonable and less mistrustful the bloodshed would have been avoided. That pretty much is the political take on the events back then and it is awfully close to a fairytale.

That becomes clearest during the discussion of military support. First the soldiers express hope that Sweden might help, later there's talk of America. But for whatever weird reason the word "German" or "Germany" isn't uttered a single time in the whole film. Just for your information, Ribbentrop's own son was actually fighting in a Finnish unit during that time, as a personal guarantee that the Ribbentrop-Molotov-treaty wasn't meant that way. Plus the fact that Germany build its submarines in Finland already during the Weimar Republic, in secrecy, since the treaty of Versailles forbade it.

Both sides are shown by far more innocent here than they were and that is an important misrepresentation for the message of the film to make sense.

But o.k., enough of that. Considering the action, I must say that the film I alluded to in the title of this comment was a pretty strong source of inspiration too. It's not black and white and it's set in snow and pine and birch forests, but that sums up the differences pretty much.

The strongest part of the film is actually the psychological presentation of its main characters and the spirit of the Finnish army. That is done skillfully, I have to admit. But that is about it. Honestly, the war scenes in "A very long engagement" were by far better, but the budget of that film was also bigger, granted.

All in all I can't give more than 6 out of 10.

Severe Realism Of War Depiction

[denis888 · 9/10 · 16 September 2018]

This is the first, so far, Finnish movie which I have ever seen, and this is about lesser depicted Sovier-Finnish winter war of 1939-1940, which claimed thousands of lives, brought immense suffering to both states and left unhealing scars. This is a long, 180-inute epic TV film which depicts a group of Finnish boys joining the army for the war. We see them at home, during military training, in the cold snowy trenches and dugouts, and after all, in the very horrid hell of bloody massacre. We witness immense harships of main heroes, their cold, miserable chores, constant battles, blood, deaths, wounds and shocking amount of realistic gore. I, as a Russian, have to admit that Russian troops are shown well, they speak excellent clear Russian, and they are brave, valiant boys. As well as Finnish soldiers on the other side of the trench. The movie is not devoid of weaker moments, at times, it drags, at times, it simply dwells on too much on gore and violence. What is more cruccial, is a very strong and visible anti-war message, and that stays well.

Strategy is lacking

[lishalinski-21-474706 · 5/10 · 1 May 2022]

I watched this movie to try and understand how the Finns did it, turned back the Russians, particularly in the context of Ukraine today. Was it clever strategy, luck, tactics, or Russian incompetence etc. You don't really get any of that (apart from the latter), it's just a gritty movie about trench warfare.

I didn't find the story compelling either, so overall it was pretty disappointing and at least at the end they could have put some historical context around it like how many men died on each side but they just didn't and leave you to Google it.

Given the great reviews I really found it disappointing.

The greatest Finnish war movie ever made

[blackwood · 10 January 2003]

I have watched Talvisota for two times and it was even better than in the first time. It's a very realistic movie about the 105 day Winter War, which was fought between Finland and Russia in 1939-1940. The movie follows an infantry regiment from Lapua, and particulary private Martti Hakala. The movie starts when the men are called to an extra training session, but soon they are transported near the border and, soon after that, to the frontline, where they are trying to stop all the russian attacks. The combat scenes look good and realistic. They usually consist of Finns trying to stop the Russian human wave from getting in to the Finnish trenches, but every battle is still different, when the number of Finnish soldiers is decreasing and decreasing and the battles are getting more desperate. And of course, sometimes it's the Finns attacking. Technically the movie is also very good. The sounds really make you feel as if you where there, in the middle of combat, thanks to the sound designer Paul Jyrälä. I have always liked scenes with added slow motion, especially in war movies. This movie features some, and they are in really great places (for example, in one scene a soldier is running to the HQ during a bombardment, trying not to get hit by a grenade. And all is shown in a cool slow motion!) The explosions also are very well done, with pieces of ground, ice and trees flying in the air.

I can't say anything bad about this movie. Sometimes it reminds me of Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan (I also like both of them) but unlike them, Talvisota tells about a war not so famous. I guess that almost everyone of you has heard about the invasion of Normandy and Operation Market Garden, but how many has heard about Taipale? How many has heard about the Winter War?

Best war film ever?

[Grin_ · 10/10 · 7 February 2003]

If you taught that "saving private Ryan" was a sad war film you haven`t seen anything yet.

Movie opens as a group of Finnish soldiers are transported to eastern border of Finland to fight somewhat 50 times bigger and much better armored enemy Russia. Enemy is shot to dead like fly`s, but the movie contains only a bit of patriotism. Finland`s soldiers are not in a happy situation, there`s very little ammunition and own soldiers are getting low too.

Sounds & special effects are excellent and acting is good too.

I can`t describe this film better with my English, so watch it and say your opinion.

Very Impressed

[BIOSphereopts · 9/10 · 29 September 2010]

While many reviewers compared this to Private Ryan, there really isn't much to compare other than the setting is placed in the same conflict. It should be remembered that this movie came out in 1989, and the attention to gritty, dirty warfare was not the norm back then.

If this could be compared to a war story, it would be more accurately paralleled with "All Quiet on the Western Front" in that the characters were plucked from home and cast into the horror and chaos of war. Unlike Private Ryan where there is a story by which the war is the backdrop, or Band of Brothers which followed the lives of those of Easy Company within the conflict, this is a portrayal of war itself. The characters were just unlucky pieces of the ugly mosaic.

As picky as this sounds, one thing I liked about this movie was that it had one small detail that most war movies tend to ignore, that is shell casings. Most of the time, like others I suppose, I am either caught up in the effects, story line etc...but this time, that one detail stood out. Yes, I know brass flies out and strip clips ping in most new war films, but in this one, the brass is scattered on the ground after the battle scenes. (Just an interesting observation)

For the average movie goer, who's favorites are Matrix and Batman, this will certainly not be your cup of tea. If you like war movies, and you liked "Windtalkers", then I suggest you pass this one up as well. However, if you are a history buff who had seen "Stalingrad", "Downfall", and you would love to see a version of "All Quiet on the Western Front" done with all the grit of the book, then you will get something from this movie.

I won't go so far as to say it didn't have some "cheesy" moments, but no film can be perfect. But I will go so far as to say this film is definitely worth a look.

one of the first hard-hitting World War 2 dramas.

[Aylmer · 9/10 · 30 September 2007]

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.

Winter War.

[HELSINKI-PILOT · 10/10 · 14 June 2001]

Pekka Parikka's image of this film was: "I make the expensive and the best, winter war film that ever has filmed"! And it is!! I cant say enything else, its the greatest war film with Stalingrad, that have ever had made!!!!!

just how it must have been, but ... seen from a narrow angle

[wvisser-leusden · 9/10 · 12 April 2009]

'Make it just how it must have been' -- no doubt this idea was most prominent in director Pekka Parikka's mind when he produced 'Talvisota'.

The result is an impressive tale about the Finn's unfortunate war against Stalin's Soviet Union in 1939-'40. Supported by authentic military gadgets, we see the men of the Finnish army leaving home, joining their army unit between hope and fear, and doing their duty when war did arrive.

That's all this film has to offer. But it surely is enough. Everybody with military experience of his/her own will warm up to Talvisota's chosen human angle.

However, there can be some criticism about this film's chosen narrow point of view. Just focusing on the Finns themselves, it leaves out any wider scope. History makes clear, though, that the Soviet's poor military performance against their tiny Finnish opponent did much to persuade Adolf Hitler to attack the Soviet Union himself. That happened one and a half year later, with disastrous results.

A movie with lots and lots and lots of bombs, and not much else

[janeblevins · 2/10 · 13 April 2011]

This movie was a huge disappointment. After reading several glowing reviews on this website and seeing the astronomical rating, I thought it would be a great way to learn a little bit about the Winter War and see some good war drama. It is a terrible movie: there is no plot whatsoever (and hey, I live in Europe so I am used to, and even enjoy, low tension plot) but even for a lover of Eric Rohmer films, this was a long, hard slog through through endless (and yes I DO mean endless) scenes of battle which alternate between Russians advancing, then retreating, or characters you don't know that well or care to know that well, getting blown to smithereens. Then, as a scene changer, there are shots of planes flying which are always Russian and are always just about to strafe some Finnish guy who is way too far from his trench. There are 3 whole hours to kill this way sans any directorial intelligence or insight to be found anywhere in the vast winter wastelands he manages to create. By the end, there seems to be only one game left to play: find a way to shoot explosions in yet another setting, because Finland is not that big.

If you're looking for a quality war movie from a European perspective (and which take place in Winter) Stalingrad is much, much better than this impressively made but utterly empty and lumbering production.

American version vs European version DVD

[jacques-bruna · 26 May 2007]

This is a very nice movie about the winter war between Finnish and soviets in 1940. That is a shame to cut a lot of scenes. The quality of the DVD Belle and Blade Studios is awful. You loose a lot of important scenes, there are too true scenes which can help to understand this black period for Finland. Forget it and go to

"www.suomikauppa.fi" to get the true version.

I can't believe such a bad copy could exist in the country of cinema! So you have to watch Talvisota in the true long version 191 min.

My vote is 10 for the film and the European version and the American short version 1!

An excellent example of an authentic war movie

[FromNorway · 10/10 · 27 April 2008]

While Hollywood make some astonishing war movies (like Band of Brothers, Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Black Hawk Down and the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan (D-Day scene) to name a few), Hollywood also make a lot of bad war movies.

Finland and Germany always make good quality and realistic war movies. Reason: While they focus at all costs that the movie is 100% historically authentic, with the historical equipment, uniforms etc., Hollywood often used cheap replacements (at least the older ones).

Talvisota is a good example of a historically authentic war movie: all of the equipment seen in the movie fits with the time of the contents of the movie, they all act realistically. This is the reason that Finnish war movies is among my favorites.

While they do not always have the same funding like American movies has, they will end up with a product often much better than the American counterpart.

So to Hollywood: While you at times make good quality war movies, you can learn a lot from Finland, Germany and hopefully Norway as well (with their Max Manus film coming this winter). It is not the famous actors of the funding that makes a good war movie, it is the commitment of the actors and the crew, its authenticity and realism and feeling that will determine if it is worth watching or not.

It was Winter, there was a war, people died...

[mhbarker · 10/10 · 10 March 2003]

Whilst the rest of Europe was getting started on WWII, Finland and Russia had the "Talvisota" or Winter war with the Soviet Union. It lasted less than 3 months, but was continued with the "Continuation war", confusing if you didn't know about the Winter war. Eventually Finland lost much of Karelia and most significantly Viipuri (Vyborg in Swedish or Russian) one of Finland's largest cities.

The conflict took place in the dead of winter, the Finns were poorly equipped, but managed to hold their own against a numerically superior aggressor. The horror and violence of warfare probably cannot be reproduced on film, but this film does it better than most.

Talvisota follows what happened to two brothers who volunteered to defend their country...

Great portrait of the horrible war.

[tjuva · 9/10 · 12 March 2006]

I think this movie is one of the most realistic war-movies ever made. My grandfather fought in Taipale and Kollaa and wrote a book about it, and i think this movie portraits the conditions and the nature of the warfare there very well. The only thing that bothered me a bit is that the freezing weather doesn't really come up... the winter when this was shooted was one of the mildest (warmest) for years, while the winter -39 was one of the coldest in history. Of course, there was not much the crew could do about it. Anyway, a great movie, which i warmly recommend for everyone. I hope someone would also make a good picture of the ultimate frozen hell, the motti-battles in region of Suomussalmi, maybe of the point of view of the menaced Russian 44th or 163rd division. That would be interesting to see...

Superb War Film

[gordonl56 · 9/10 · 5 May 2015]

THE WINTER WAR – 1989

This is one of the best war films ever produced. This Finnish Film is about the Finnish-Soviet War of 1939-40.

The Soviets are threatening war if Finland does not give up some of its territory. The Soviets are flexing their muscles and have gobbled up part of Poland and the three Baltic countries, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Finland, once part of the Russian Empire had chased the Red Army out in 1919 and declared independence. They are not inclined to let the Soviets back in. The Red Army, which vastly outnumbered Finland in men and material, attacked on November 30, 1939.

The film follows a group of Finns from a rural area of the country. They have been called up to fill out the Finnish Army ranks. Finland had a well-trained reserve army at hand. Most men did several weeks of training every year. The men are sent to the frontier and assigned positions. Their orders are to hold the line.

The Soviets shell the area and launch several massive human wave attacks. The Soviets had expected the Finns to fold and sue for peace. They get a most rude surprise as the Finns stop them cold. The Soviets suffer large losses but still keep coming. Soviet tactics suffer due to the lack of trained Red Army officers. The Great Purge of 1937, ordered by Stalin, had killed off most of the better men.

The Finns stand fast for as long as they can, but the odds continue to grow. They finally have to ask for terms. However, the stubborn resistance by the Finns was quite the shock to Stalin and company. They settle for the small gain of 11% of Finland, and call it a day. Finland and the Soviets would clash again during the Continuation War of 1941-1944. Finland again would hold the Soviets to small gains and heavy losses.

Period detail and weapons are very good here. The action is also top notch with no over the top heroics done Hollywood style. Just war as it is, bloody, messy and deadly. The viewer watches as the men are killed off one by one over the course of the four month conflict.

The film is available in three different run-times. There is the chopped up 125 minutes version, the 195 min version and the complete 265 min version. The last two are the best. The 265 minute runtime version was padded out a bit to become a mini-series for Finnish television.