The Winter War ( Talvisota ) ( Vinterkriget ) ~ Antti Raivio, Esko Kovero, Heikki Paavilainen, and Martti Suosalo (DVD)

Absolutely brilliant, one of the best war films ever made. It follows a small group of men called up when the Soviet Union demands Finnish territory in the autumn of 1939. After the Soviet attack on 30 November that year, the men of this unit fight in extreme cold against overwhelming odds. One by one they die. The Winter War lasted for 105 days and just before the armistice began, the Soviets bombarded the Finnish lines for hours on end to wipe out as many Finns as they could in the war's last hours. The film's portrayal of this bombardment is just one of its many unforgettable scenes. If you have even the slightest interest in war films or in how humans react in extreme conditions, don't miss this one.

it is the business of the artist to follow it home to the heart of the individual fighters-not to talk in armies and nations and numbers-but to track it home." D.H. Lawrence

The Russo-Finnish War, known as "The Winter War", began on November 30, 1939 when the Red Army invaded Finland. The war began after the Finns refused demands from Stalin to move its borders 25 kilometers back from Leningrad. The basis for this demand was the fear on the part of Stalin and the Soviet High Command that Hitler could launch an invasion of the USSR directed at Leningrad using Finland as a base for its attack. The Winter War ended by means of a truce signed on March 12, 1940. During this brief three-month war a Finnish army consisting of 180,000 men, most of them reservists waged a defensive battle against an advancing Soviet army of about 450,000 men. Fighting from entrenched positions against full-frontal assaults resulted in the death of close to 23,000 Finnish soldiers. At the same time more than 126,000 Soviet soldiers were killed or missing and another 264,000 were wounded. This short war had a dramatic impact on the future course of the Second World War (the Winter War took place during the `phony war' period between the occupation of Poland and the commencement of Germany's invasion of France). The horrifying losses suffered by the Red Army were a reflection of the chaos caused by purges of the military that practically eliminated every professional officer from the Red Army. This vulnerability could only have encouraged Hitler in making his decision to invade the USSR in June 1941. Finnish film director Pekka Parikka's 1989 film "The Winter War" is an exceptionally well made movie about this little-known (at least to me) war. The film is not about armies fighting armies as much as it is about the individual fighters who, collectively, are called upon to wage war against an invading army.

Parikka's film follows the war through the eyes of a small platoon of reservists called up from their village to fight the war. It begins with their mobilization and their trip to the front lines through three months of brutal and bloody fighting. The film appears to be very accurate from a historic perspective. The reservists are shown being issued incomplete, if any, uniforms, and finding gear and supplies when and if they can. The Finns, lacking in anti-tank weaponry invented the Molotov Cocktail to use against Soviet mechanized divisions and the film shows these ad hoc weapons being used to great effect. Particularly well done are the scenes that show the impact of the war on the rather stoic inhabitants of the platoon's village.

The Winter War is a straight-forward narrative of the war and how it was fought. It has a particular emphasis on the ugly reality of war. It is not for the squeamish. The film is not an examination of the souls or characters of the people that fought the war. This is true even of the principal actors. The characters in the film are involved in fighting a war, they are not there to engage in discussions of the meaning of life. However, I thought the film was very well done and certainly worth watching. Those with an interest in war films generally or interested in well made films that cover corners of our history that is not overly familiar to them should find this a rewarding film to watch.

I have to agree with the other revewiers. Better than Private Ryan, this film tells the story from the Finnish side. A theatre of war often forgotten, it tells the story of Russian aggression against Finland with the aim to annexe the country. The Soviet forces had on overwhelming superiority of soldiers 3 times as many the Finns, 30 times the aircraft, and 100 x as many tanks.

The hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland lost 11 percent of its pre-war territory and 30 percent of its economic assets to the USSR.

This film highlights the sheer human tenacity of the Finnish troops to defend their land and people in the deepest winter of 1939. Stalin had used the opportunity of Germany's entry into Poland to gain strategic lands - which scuppered the Allied's plans to use Finland for invasion troops.

The movie tells the story purely from the perspective of the Finnish soldiers on the front, their fears, the desperat fight against the icy cold, hunger and an overwhelming enemy.

Also recommended as some of the best war films are: City of Life & Death [DVD] [2009] and Black Sun - The Nanking Massacre [1995] [DVD]