Täällä Pohjantähden alla

Väinö Linna's Täällä Pohjantähden alla (often translated as Here, Beneath the North Star) is one of the most famous and important Finnish novels ever written. Timo Koivusalo's cinematic adaptation of the novel in 2009 seemed like a disaster from the get-go. For those of you who don't know about Koivusalo, all I can say is that he has become a famous director in Finland even though his films' actual quality is on par with Uwe Boll's movies. The idea of Koivusalo directing the adaptation of a great classic is painful - and the result is even more painful than I could ever expect.

The story explores the time when Finland gained independence and the bloody civil war that followed it - through the perspective of a fictional family. Timo Koivusalo proves that even with great source material you can screw up horribly.

First of all, the narrative is utterly aimless throughout the film (what works in a novel might not work in a film) which makes most of the film's points lack the needed impact. Secondly, the characters are never introduced properly so the film is extremely confusing for someone who has not read the novel. Koivusalo doesn't seem to be even bothered by the characters at any point. Thirdly, the film's content is so awkwardly heavy-handed - especially during the later half - that the film becomes rather ridiculous.

What's even worse is the huge amount of both intentional and unintentional humor that is present even in the most dramatic moments. There's also a lot of content that should have been cut because there was no reason to include those moments in the first place!

If you think the content sounds bad enough, just wait until you witness the form: it is chaotic and arrhythmic for no purpose. The editing is random, distracting and ludicrous ALL THE TIME. Koivusalo likes to crosscut different scenes very often for no purpose and it only serves to make me loathe the film more. The cinematography is careless and nauseating in its anarchy: the viewer can't even understand where each scene is even taking place because we are never even given a chance to see where each shot takes place. The only decent thing about the form is the pleasant lighting that makes the rest of the shit look better than it really is.

The film is a disgrace. It is frustrating, dumb and incomprehensible. Even if you were Koivusalo, you can't completely destroy the magic of the original novel so there's the one extra point for the film. My suggestion is to AVOID THE FILM BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

Score: 2 out of 10