THE WINTER WAR (Talvisota)

Unfortunately, this film has so many huge problems that it can only be recommended to extremely forgiving viewers with a particular interest in this conflict. First of all, the story is remarkably flimsy; it's really just a very loose framework on which to hang a bunch of numbingly repetitive battle scenes. Some grognards (fanatical war buffs, basically) rave about this movie because of its battle scenes. Sure, they're graphic and have lots of explosions, but when they're so poorly written, directed, and edited, who cares? Don't expect to find anything as masterly filmed or emotionally intense as the openings of Saving Private Ryan or Enemy at the Gates, for example. Meanwhile, characters, themes, and plot twists are never fleshed out or are simply nonexistent.

Just as bad, the directing and editing are literally some of the worst I've ever seen in a feature film: jerky or downright incoherent cuts between shots and scenes are more the norm than the exception. These affect not merely the combat scenes, but the whole film. The Winter War looks downright amateurish much of the time. (Other reviewers claim that much material has been deleted for this DVD release, and it sure looks that way!) Also, the acting is merely acceptable here, which makes it that much harder to care about any of the characters and whether they live or die. On top of that, the subtitles are poorly handled: they're littered with grammatical and spelling errors. Finally, the DVD transfer looks like it came from some third-generation video tape.

If you're looking for a modern, realistic WWII film on DVD, you'd do far better with the Band of Brothers miniseries, Saving Private Ryan, Das Boot, The Thin Red Line, Stalingrad, or Enemy at the Gates, for example. Those all feature far better writing, acting, direction, editing, and/or cinematography. Those are films that both grognards and film buffs can enjoy.

For those who just want to gawk at some early-war Soviet tanks and trench warfare, The Winter War might be of interest, but that sure doesn't make it a good film. Hopefully the film will be released properly some day, so we can judge the real thing instead of this mess of a movie.


Great combat scenes but some boring parts   August 16, 2003
12 out of 18 found this review helpful

This is an okay movie. It tells the extremely dramatic story of Finnland's heroic resistance against the Soviet invasion of 1939 (this, by the way, is one of the things that the Russians would like you to forget about when they assert that they essentially won World War II on their own).

Anyway, the combat scenes are impressive for a film made in 1989. However, unless you speak Finnish, you're likely to get bored and start pressing the fast forward buttton when Talvisota gives you a series of verbose scenes at the beginning that last almost a half hour. There are several shorter (mercifully) interruptions punctuating the combat.

I've often wondered why Hollywood has never made a film about the brave fight that the Finns put up against the Russians. It would seem to me that the story would have the same appeal that "Braveheart" did. But then, I'm not a Hollywood producer.

The bottom line: If you can't rent it, I'd recommend buying it used (like I did). It simply isn't worth 45 dollars brand new.


Excellent Movie - Disatrous DVD   May 11, 2003
Pär Egnell (STOCKHOLM Sweden)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

As several other reviewers have noted, the quality on the DVD is rather bad. What is even more irritating in my opinion is that several scenes have been cut away. I saw the movie when it was originally released for cinema, and I remember it being almost 3 hour long. My memory is certainly clouded by time, but I distinctly remember one scene depicting a visit to a prostitue which is gone. At least one combat sequence is gone too, when they go on a mission behind enemy lines.

The movie in itself is astonishingly good. Only "Das Boot" rivals it when it comes to war movies. Too bad the DVD is a mess.


Good Story, Lousy VHS Tape and unfortunately DVD   March 10, 2003
Tom Pearson (Chicago, IL)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

The story of Finland's resistance and stalemate against Russia is a true story and the film does justice to the story. Unfortunately, the quality of the VHS tape is terrible - fuzzy, grainy,distorted. Like the poor quality you would get from a multiple generation copied home video that was the final copy of all the generational copies made (copy of a copy of a copy, etc.). What is really unfortunate is the DVD is equally bad, apparently just a DVD copy of the already bad VHS tape. The Belle & Blade Studios who market the VHS/DVD did a real dis-service to everyone who buys the product.

The action scenes and story line is above average and at times can be truly gut-wrenching. The sub-titles are frequently in rather bad or garbled English (the film is in Finnish)and were obviously translated by a person who had poor command of the English language. The sub-titles cannot be disabled as they are part of the film. I just wish the VHS/DVD copy was better in quality - I can put up with the sub-titles.


MOVIE = GREAT, DVD = HORRIBLE   February 4, 2003
Peter E. Mcreynolds (Brisbane, CA United States)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

Winter War is a great movie, but a horrible DVD.

The picture quality STINKS, and there are NO EXTRAS.
It is impossible to turn the sub-titles off either.

However, from a military perspective, the movie ROCKS!!
There is battle scene after battle scene, with all of it re-inacted with tremendous realism. Watching the combat take place in the cold Finnish landscape, you will feel transported in time to the Winter of 1939-40. You will know what the experience was of a Finn soldier fighting against the Soviet horde.

I am planning on buying and reading the non-fictional book, Talvisota, because the movie does not give much of a strategic view of the 120 day war. The movie is dedicated to the tactical side of the fighting, because that is what the typical Finn solider did (example - "this is your trench, there is the enemy, NONE SHALL PASS!") For overall descriptions of troop movements, and the reasons why the Soviet Army was turned away in stalemate at the end of the conflict, one needs to read a pure historical account.

PS If any small country in the World needs inspiration to fight off the military aggressions of a big bully, then this story is it!