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Beyond the Front Line

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Beyond the Front Line

A movie based on real wartime diaries tells the story of the Swedish speaking Finns' infantry regiment 61. The story follows the regiment during the Continuation War from 1942 to 1944 and from Syväri to the Karelian Isthmus where they faced some of the most grueling battles against the Soviet Union.

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Release : 2004
Rating : 6.5
Studio : Åke Lindman Film-Production, 
Crew : Production Design,  Assistant Camera, 
Cast : Tobias Zilliacus Ilkka Heiskanen Christoffer Weiss Sampo Sarkola Pelle Heikkilä
Genre : History

Cast List

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Reviews

Ameriatch
2018/08/30

One of the best films i have seen

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BroadcastChic
2018/08/30

Excellent, a Must See

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Tedfoldol
2018/08/30

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

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Payno
2018/08/30

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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meritcoba
2014/03/17

..he doesn't understand German and watching a movie in a language he does not understand might be funny, but only if he was with a group of friends who do not understand it either and have around the same level of mildly intoxication as he had.But Henry was neither intoxicated nor with a group of friends, but only accompanied by Kristl, who can understand German very well, her being Austrian, and that makes for one hell of a disadvantage in a review.So here follows a review written by Kristl.It was not easy to find this movie on the IMDb as the movie I saw was called 'Beyond the Frontline. The Battle for Karelien' instead of 'Beyond Enemy Lines'. Despite the English title the movie was voiced in German and I am unsure if there were any English subtitles so I question if it would be of any use to an English audience.This movie is from Finland and depicts remembered events from the war between Finland and the Soviet Union that coincided with the Second World War. I say remembered events because at the beginning we see a pair of grizzled veterans adorned with medals talking about that war with a young woman, who seems to be writing down their stories. It is their recollections thus that we are witnessing. I also say remembered, because a movie like this is more about what people remember then about what actually happened. Someone once said that of all the evidence one can submit to court, personal memory is the least trusted because people tend to recall things in a subjective manner and thus memories can be - and often are - changed because of wishful thinking, peer pressure, trauma and self delusion.The movie shows us the times and trepidations of a group of volunteers that are part of the infantry regiment 61, a Swedish volunteer unit in the service of the army of Finland. It is mid 1944 and the Soviets are on the move. Their aim is to advance through the Karelian Isthmus and thus gain access to the more open lands beyond. Karelia was an area hemmed in between the gulf of Finland and Lake Lagoda. It was an inhospitable land, with few roads and a lot of lakes and forests. A land more suitable to the defense than to conquest. Hence the Finish decided to make their stand there and with the aid of German (anti-tank) weapons, some German troops and volunteers from countries like Sweden, the Fins managed, for a while, to halt the Russian onslaught, which included tanks, massed artillery and sizable infantry forces.In itself this subject could be quite interesting as it shows a part of World War II of which not much is told and, to be honest, I feel some sympathy for a small country facing a big one such as the Soviet Union, even if Finland happened to be on the wrong side in the war.The challenge for a director working in such small country as Finland is to somehow make his movie interesting while lacking a sizable budget. Such a movie inevitable can only do this by substituting quantity for quality which means: using good acting, a well written script and camera-work to offset the lack of three b's, being: big boys, loud bangs and bouncing boobies.This movie only partially succeeds. The problem lies with the lack of story. This movie is like a drawn-out dramatized documentary that focuses on warfare and assumes that simply moving forward through time is enough of a plot device to keep people interested. It lacks drama and the personalities thus are flat. This is underscored by the fact that none of the soldiers seem to get worse for wear. They remain clean shaven and properly dressed despite the chaos of war. It is as if they are playing at warfare instead of actually undergoing it.Another problem with this movie is that the soldiers are sometimes too much cast as 'heroes'. The Russians, being the enemy, are depicted as the usually non-entities whose only role is to get killed in droves. At one moment a group of seven volunteers infiltrate a Russian position killing thirty soldiers. During this fight three 'heroes' manage to survive the blast of three hand-grenades with barely a scratch while the Russians fly through the air when the favor is returned. And when two battalions of Russians soldiers take on a company of these Swedish volunteers, the latter hardly suffer any losses at all, while the first get exterminated. It is all a bit too much.Why is it that in movies 'our side' is superior in all respect except for the amounts of men, of course, while 'their side' consists of a multitude of carbon copy dregs that can't shoot straight? Does a movie become less of a movie when the enemy is not just a shadowy figure in a landscape, but a person, like you or me with an equal fair change to kill one of us, as we have to kill one of them? Is it more heroic that a man, portrayed as superior in every respect, kills one who is inferior in everything? Is that what a 'hero' is?The bottom line is that this movie is interesting because it depicts events that I have not heard much about, but if the Swedes and Fins had been American soldiers and the context had been a battle in Western Europe like say, the battle of the bulge or the landing in Normandy, I would not have given this movie a second glance. And thus the final verdict. An interesting movie but not very impressive.

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Shaolin_Apu
2005/04/13

Lindman's film shows a story of a Finnish platoon leader Harry Järv, who during the Fenno-Russian War of 1941-44 led several successful raids against Russian strongpoints. Instead of any artistic ambitions, Lindman has meant his movie to be a true-story documentary about one historical person. While the film is a documentary drama, it lacks the horror and excitement one could expect from a war film. This approach has its reasons, because the film starts from the period of war during which only small-scale action was carried out between Finns and Russians. The action in the Finnish front during period of 1942-43 mostly consisted of Finnish patrols making havoc at the Russian lines, Russian snipers annoying Finnish watchmen and such.The Finnish platoon leader Harry Järv appears in the film as one of the most valiant soldiers there could be. He is not only good soldier. He is also cultivated. He reads classical philosophy and is eager to share his knowledge with his men. As a platoon leader he is unlike those USMC centurions, because he leads by his example. He never says "go!" but "come!". He speaks with his officers and men both Swedish and Finnish.I call this film propaganda only because it is so clean, although faithful depiction of actual events. Lindman has had an intention to teach the Swedes about war and explain why Soviet Union did not end up as a new neighbor for Sweden. It was rather geography and not politics at all that dragged Finland into the war! It should be admitted, that there was much worse in war, more blood and screaming, and all of the Finnish officers were not like Järv. There was however, plenty enough like him.As a whole, this is a unique film. Not great, but good and serves well all those who want to know about history. Framom främstä linjen has many little details that didn't surface up during watching it for the first time. I only began to like the movie only after watching it for the fourth time. For weapon freaks this movie offers a real rarity: the German StuG IIIg appearing at one scene. The DVD should have had a commentary and/or trivia track, because only Finns are enough familiar with their history and nature of their army.

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xaggurat
2005/01/19

DVD was released lately and just saw this one. Åke Lindman, the director has made a life long career as a film maker in Finland. He started in 1944, when the war was still on. He acted furiously in 1955 version of The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas).In this light it is somewhat strange, that the movie is such a dull war movie, badly directed and worse acting. As a war movie lover and as a historical buff I was very, very disappointed. The soldiers are very nice, clean, almost cute and they don't like swearing. They fight calmly, intelligently, honorably and heroically. Russians have no role against them but do die. I bet the time has gild the memoirs of either Järv or Lindman.About the wartime politics in Scandinavia. I bet the Finns would have liked if their beloved neighbors, the Swedes, would have let the British troops, which the British Govt was sending to aid Finland _against_ the Soviets, through Swedish soil during the Winter War - so the Finns would have had a chance to ally with the British, not the Germans. But that must be because Sweden gave only pass-trough permits to the Germans during the WWII. Small country, which is forced to fight a war, has only so much options. Not every country can just maintain peace and sell iron and Bofors guns to every fighting side and grow rich, while others are being bombed.I give this movie 2 points, one for being a war movie and Heiskanen acted decently.edited addition: Recently watched another bad war movie, Windtalkers. Actually these two movies are very much alike in many ways.And there's no point to weap about heroism, bad movie is a bad movie, especially if it's message has something to do with heroism.

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Phra7
2004/05/17

This is a dramatized true story about a Swedish speaking unit in the Finnish army, during the Finnish "Continuation war" which Finland fought against the Soviet Union, in 1941-1944 to regain the territory that the Russians had gained in their attack on Finland in 1939-1940. Don't look for an elaborate plot, bigger than life storyline or any romantic involvement in this film. It doesn't really have a storyline and absolutely no romantic subplot. This is a description of a group of young men on the front and their escapades. Everything has been done with the veterans to achieve maximum authenticity. If that means that the movie is lame, so be it. I find it refreshingly different. However one needs to appreciate before watching this that this is a sort of drama documentary.The director who is also the producer wanted to make a true life film while the veterans still were alive. He has done this, but some viewers seem to have expected a Hollywood drama. You won't get that. You'll get grueling scenes as they happened. I rather enjoyed this movie.PS. The fact that about 80 % of the spoken language in the film is Swedish also seems to annoy some, but not the majority of the local Finnish viewers. But what can you do, this unit comprised of Swedish speaking troops, so this part needs to be accurate also.

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