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 film is also available as a DVD and on the most popular streaming services.
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.
You can follow Infantry Regiment 8 here:
https://www.sotapolku.fi/sotapolut/jalkavkirykmentti-8/
The author of the novel Unknown Soldier, Sgt Väinö Linna, served in this regiment until he was tranferred to training duty in the spring of 1943.
I embed a link to a review of the film by Combat Arms Channel on YouTube whose owner is a US Army urban warfare expert, currently stationed in South Korea, who has also served in the US Marine Corps. According to Combat Arms Channel, Unknown Soldier (2017) by Aku Louhimies is unique in its depiction of one aspect non-soldiers usually overlook in how the war affects soldiers psychologically. That aspect is the alienation they feel from their civilian lives and their relationships in it. The stress of combat is so powerful that long-term exposure to it changes people. That particular consequence of spending years in the front lines is conveyed in subtle ways in this film. The owner of Combat Arms Channel knows exactly what this is about and he dissects some scenes towards the end of his review.
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 an action sequence where one of the main characters, second lieutenant Koskela is killed. This is set in the withdrawal phase of the war in June 1944.
