Once Upon a Time in the North (2012) User Reviews

Fine period drama

[Vartiainen · 6/10 · 16 April 2015]

Finland has often had something of a rebellious attitude against government and law, stemming from our history of being forced under one foreign king or another. Thus, when the so called puukkojunkkarit (literally knife rebels, though it's a loose translation) started fighting against common laws, causing general chaos, crashing social events and outright murdering people in the 19th century, they actually received respect for it. Sure, they were feared and people tried to stop them, but they gathered a lot of followers and admirers as well.

Härmä is a story about them, and about the people that suffered from their attitude. It doesn't really go too deep into the reasons why they saw fit to terrorize their local community, rather it paints them as outright villains, while still giving them a lot of charisma and pull. This is pretty much Finland's best answers to gangster films, and it's not bad at all. The actors are all talented, with special shout-out going to Mikko Leppilampi as Esko Välitalo, the leader of the rebels. The production values are all very high for our country and the whole film has a great feel to it. The atmosphere is also carefully build and you feel for these characters.

My only real problems are that the story pretty predictable and I would have liked to see the rebels given a bit more depth. Not it left the impressions that they rebel because some people are simply born evil, which is a touch childish. Nevertheless, those two things don't take away from the entertainment value at all.

Härmä is one of the better Finnish films I've seen and a fine movie to check out if you'd like to see a slightly different gangster-style movie or if you're into period dramas.

Perfectly shot beautiful film which lacks substance and strong script.

[ernesti · 4/10 · 31 December 2014]

Missed this one when it ran in the cinemas and after having seen this on TV, I don't regret ever paying anything for the pleasure. It is just as bland and simple as a finnish film can be and I don't wonder why these films never make an international success. They're just damn boring to watch as they make the plots so simple and everything is given away in the very beginning. Sure we Finns aren't complicated people so we can't write complicated plots.

The male lead actor is just one perfect example of a male model who went into acting and never forgot to how to pose. Unfortunately this time it wasn't a photo-shoot for the catalog. Matti's just bland and vague just like most of the characters in this film. Maybe it's the lack of direction, lack of script or something else, but these characters don't seem too genuine for me.

All that combined with lots of running around endlessly, trying different ways to accomplish the ultimate goal just makes the film a tiring 120 minute experience. It's a classic example of a film that favors style over substance. No heart, not too much passion just business as usual.

Of course technically it's perfectly shot and the production values are high. It's just a pity that it isn't as good as it could be.

Good, engaging.

[vg40 · 8/10 · 5 June 2020]

Saw it on Yle today. Good film, entertaining, good acting, period feel, very well shot, emotionally engaging. (Wife's only complaint was that girl's hair was untied throughout the film which was odd.)

Coulda Shoulda Woulda

[xaggurat · 2/10 · 27 June 2014]

It could have been a good historical action movie. The historical background is interesting enough for someone to film some decent action out of it. If only someone with a good sense of style and creative mindset would take another stab to the subject.

There could be even a chance to make social commentary, as young men of the era rebelled against strict laws and rules of society and religious morality in 19th century Finnish Ostrobothnia. What was special - meaning when compared to similar rebellious actions in other parts of the world - was that rebelling young men "puukkojunkkarit" belonged to all classes of society, there were house owners, farmers and farm servants. So, the battle was actually between cool fun people and uptight self-righteous people, more than criminals and lawful people.

But this flick, Härmä, has no social commentary. It promotes the boring guy and makes the fun guy criminal.

Rest of the plot is just as unimaginative and literal. It's a simple hereditary rivalry between two brothers. And quite tedious one. The major problem with the story is that there's a pattern, which is repeated several times. Because of it you feel like you have seen the same story 3-4 times before the film actually ends.

High production value, but ultimately just a cheesefest

[ommik · 2/10 · 14 October 2021]

The production value is high and the movie looks good and expensive, but the story is absolute snooze. Also the acting is not that great, tho practically everyone in it are Finnish A-list actors. I guess they were going for a Finnish revisionist western, but it didn´t work at all.