What it’s about
In 1939, with Europe immersed in the opening stages of World War II, Stalin sends 400,000 troops into Finland, aiming to annex the country by force. A small platoon of reservists, including Martti (Taneli Makela) and his brother Paavo (Konsta Makela), are called up to resist the invaders, and quickly come to realize that the Finnish army — bereft of proper uniforms, supplies, and weapons in the face of Soviet tanks — have little but courage and determination to fight back with.
Why we love it
Based on a novel by Antii Tuuri and submitted for the Best Foreign Oscar in 1989, Parikka's monumental war film details the long-forgotten Russo-Finnish War, in which bedraggled, ill-equipped Finnish farmers managed to resist and defeat the far more powerful Red Army, which outnumbered them 50 to 1. Balancing its epic scope with intimate, thoroughly engrossing details of one platoon's heroic struggle to save their country, “The Winter War” digs in at soldier's-eye level, depicting front-line combat with a fearsome, authentic intensity that recalls “Saving Private Ryan.”