Johan Hake

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.

This very serious drama, based on a true incident, explores the unremitting labor which put a young mother living in rural isolation into the situation of being charged with having thrown her children down a well. Her husband is an unimaginative, work-obsessed man who cannot see that her constant hard work without any support or sympathy from anyone is driving the sensitive woman to consider suicide. When the loutish fellow discovers that his wife and three children are missing, he calls the police, and a manhunt begins. The police discover the oldest boy alive, and find that the mother tried to drown herself, but has survived. The two younger children remained missing.

Based on a novel of the same name by the Finnish author, Antti Tuuri, this delicious late-80's comedy builds its dark humour on the stereotypical mentality of the northern part of Finland. While perhaps not as entertaining to a person unfamiliar with Finnish traditions, the brilliant acting, directing, plus the warm, beautiful Finnish summer more than make up for the cultural gap.The story begins with a group of brothers with their families coming up to honour the memory of their recently deceased father. Spending time together, opening old wounds and creating new ones... it all boils down to brotherhood. No matter what happens, brothers take care of their own.

Ilona, a young elementary school teacher, arrives in Hämäläiskylä . He and Aarne, the host of Niskavuori, who is frustrated with his marriage, fall in love. The relationship becomes a public secret. Aarne's wife Martta, who owns half of Niskavuori, wants to hold on to her husband until the last. For Liskisa, the matriarch of Niskavuori, the most important thing is the reputation and honor of the family.

Based on a novel by the late Finnish writer Timo Mukka, this simple story focuses on what happens when Milka (Irma Huntus), a girl barely out of childhood, gets pregnant by Ojanen (Matti Turunen) a rustic fieldhand. Her own mother had been hoping to marry Ojanen, and her daughter's pregnancy turns their lives around. Set in the Lapp country of northern Finland, the scenery is breathtaking, made even more so by the isolation of the region. A sense of natural solitude is underscored by a slow-moving dialogue interspersed with long silences, and the connection between nature and the dialogue is underscored as the young Milka recites poetry while out in the countryside. The fate of Milka and her mother, however, is connected to the decision that Ojanen makes at the end.

A woman who has been raped by a man at a party plots and executes an elaborate and humiliating revenge.