I already wrote a short review (in Finnish) of film The Unknown Soldier (2017) by Louhimies. I got around to watching the five-hour long miniseries on Yle Areena a few days ago. The miniseries is even better, in my opinion, because the characters get more backstory. I'm writing this one in English because I've learned that the film has been shown in theaters in Sweden and it is possible that it has been released in other countries (with subtitles).
The Unknown Soldier is based on Väinö Linna's classic novel published in 1954. It tells the story of a machine gun company in Infantry Regiment 8 in the Continuation War between the Soviet Union and Finland between June 1941 and September 1944. Väinö Linna served in that regiment as a squad leader himself and most of the characters in the book either have a direct counterpart in real life, such as corporal Rokka from Karelia, or combine different persons from Linna's company. Infantry Regiment 8 fought its way from the post-Winter War border north of Lake Ladoga to the city of Petrozhavodsk in Russia and on to the river Svir to the south on the western shore of the great lake of Ääninen. The advance was followed by trench warfare from early 1942 to June 1944. The regiment retreated 300 km from Svir, deep in Eastern Karelia, to roughly the old border where the Soviet offensive in the summer of 1944 was stopped after wearing down the powerful enemy. As the film progresses, Louhimies' direction and the actors do a wonderful job in portraying how the long war changes the men. I can't think of a single area in which the film or the miniseries fail. They both look and sound fantastic. The acting is subtle but effective.
I mentioned in my short review that the cinematography was superb. The imagery is beautiful yet anchored in realism. The film won awards for sound design, which is not surprising. Interestingly, Martin Kantola, an unknown-to-the-public world class microphone designer and manufacturer well known in the music industry designed and built a microphone, the NU-100 specifically for this film.
The clip I'm linking to contains two action sequences depicting a counterattack during the retreat in the summer of 1944. It also contains the discovery of the bodies of corporal Hietanen and major Sarastie and the death scene of captain Kariluoto.
In this other scene, the sound engineering really shines. Especially the end where Koskela takes out a machine gun nest with a satchel charge is pretty impressive.In the battle scenes, the soundscape gives the viewer a three-dimensional feeling that helps immersion into the scene really well.
