Film Forum

Finland, 1972
Directed by Mikko Niskanen
Starring Mikko Niskanen, Tarja-Tuulikki Tarsala, Paavo Pentikäinen, Tauno Paananen
In Finnish with English subtitles
Part one: Approx. 154 min. Part two: Approx. 156 min. DCP.

In a remote part of Finland, seemingly abandoned by the 1960s welfare state, farmer Pasi (played by writer/director Niskanen) struggles to eke out a bare living for his wife and four children, working his land with archaic equipment and supplementing his meager income with odd jobs — and with moonshine cooked up deep in the woods. Pasi’s day-to-day existence carefully unfolds:  treks through snow-covered woods, arduous work clearing land with horse and plough, rare moments of happy family life, drunken revels with neighboring farmers.  But run-ins with the authorities and ever-deepening poverty turn his good-natured carousing into violent fits of despair, crescendoing in a final deadly confrontation…. Inspired by actual events. “Zola-esque depiction of life’s complicated reasons… The illegal distilling of moonshine becomes a form of social protest— the last such act for a powerless man.” – Peter von Bagh. “Largely free of overt sentimentality or moralizing, a work whose lyrical naturalism and sprawling but precise construction link it to classic traditions of European cinema, both Scandinavian and Eastern European… Naskenen uses the space afforded by the mini-series format not for repetition or embellishment but for long, detailed scenes of country life and folkways that feel like a series of revelations.” – Mike Hale, The New York Times.

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, Yleisradio Oy, Fiction Finland ry, and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

A JANUS FILMS RELEASE

Reviews

"ONE OF THE MASTERPIECES OF EUROPEAN CINEMA.”
– Aki Kaurismäki

“UNFORGETTABLE… A FINNISH FLM OF FIERCE REALISM… AN IMPORTANT WORK THAT DESERVES WIDER ACCLAIM.”  
– Kristin M. Jones, The Wall Street Journal.