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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.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Edvin Laine did it first and brought Väinö Linna's Tuntematon Sotilas to the big screen.The year was 1955.Tuntematon Sotilas (1985) is directed by Rauni Mollberg.Linna's novel is a classic, which I read last year.And so is the first version of the novel.They show it on every Independence Day (Dec 6) here in Finland.This year, that marked the 94th anniversary of our country, made no exception.I didn't watch it this year, but instead I borrowed this new version from the library.The cast consists of some known names, and there are also a lot of amateur actors.The more known names are Risto Tuorila (Koskela), Pirkka-Pekka Petelius (Hietanen), Paavo Liski (Rokka), Pertti Koivula (Lahtinen), Kari Väänänen (Lammio), Veikko Tiitinen (Kaarna), Risto Salmi (Korpela) and Yrjö Parjanne (Colonel).This doesn't get too close to the original.The 1980's war between Finland and Russia differs pretty much from the 1950's version of it.The battle scenes look good, but what I missed was the humor of the first movie.There's some, but it's not very funny.Even though it's war, it doesn't have to be so serious.Often, in horrendous situations, such as war, humor is the way to cope with it.The original is a classic, this is just a decent war movie.

Rauni Mollberg's (from now on referred to as 'Molle') Tuntematon Sotilas has been left far behind in fame to its predecessor, that of Edwin Laine's Tuntematon Sotilas from 1955. This is not surprising as the newer movie lacks the sentiment that is almost omnipresent in the older version. Despite this, is Molle's version more faithful to the original novel by Väinö Linna who was himself involved in making of the new version. Both movies however deserve their place, in Edwin Laine's time there was a need for high national epic but as the times changed a new version was also welcome and maybe even in demand.Molle's version deserves perhaps more praise and attention than it has been used to have, but also criticism. The newer version is no way meant to be 'a better' version but rather an alternative account of the psychological reality of a man. Therefore I call it an antithesis, it is impossible to see the newer version without comparing it to the all too familiar older version. You actually need to watch the film several times before it really opens to you in the way Molle had intended it. Tuntematon Sotilas is a war film, but the highlight is upon the people who fought in there, both Finns and Russians, who are brought to suffer the very same meat-grinder. Parts of it are funny, parts of it are disgusting.What is left to a lesser notion is historicity, the weapons and uniforms are from the second world war but you should not expect them to appear in correct order. For the weapon freaks be it informed that the same KV-1's appear as both Finnish and Soviet tanks. For those who already know everything that has been written about the Continuation War this movie does not offer any historical references, this time it is all literature from the ground view. Nevertheless this is one of the best war films there is, perhaps there is a conscious focus and perhaps there is some message, but the weight of the overall work will just make you silent.If you are going to see this film, make sure you are watching a quality copy. Many dark scenes have become incomprehensible in poor quality VHS transfers. The darkness is essential visual effect in Molle's version.

I find the 1985 version of "Tuntematon sotilas" far superior over the older version. The new version is much more realistic in its description of the war. The actors are of real age instead of the original movie. Also all the battle scenes really give the feeling of chaos when defensive lines are shattered and despair takes over the men.The film describes continuation war with good accuracy. Also I like how the characters develop over the film. At start the green men who are panicking easily and so afraid of the enemy who they don't even see... To the heroic defensive battles against Russian tank hordes at the end.Many of the since-unknown actors have now become main pillars of Finnish movies and entertainment. Mollberg's idea of using less famous people than Laine did in his version works. When movie was released the faces weren't familiar - and so the characters are much more neutral.All-in-all I consider the 1985 Tuntematon sotilas as one of the best and realistic war movies ever made, close to second is "Winter War" - another Finnish war movie.

Essentially the same plot as the infinitely superior version made 30 years prior, UNKNOWN SOLDIER (TUNTEMATON SOTILAS, 1985) provides little new and is very amateurishly made. The camera work is almost completely hand-held and there is little or no lighting or attempt to make any of the visuals even the slightest bit aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes the cameraman just drifts back and forth from subject to subject with little or no reason to do so - it's like a home video made in a war zone! This is a remake in the true sense of the word. All the main episodes from the original 1955 version are redone, with a little exception as to when and where a few characters die. Like the original, it's awfully episodic but it doesn't carry any of the drama. This is the sort of story that needed the stark black and white, the locked-down camera angles, and the larger than life 50's-style acting to bring the book pages to life.The '85 version is overall quite poor and unimpressive as a war drama or action film. I went to some lengths to find it and import it into the states, and I feel as though I wasted my money. But don't let that dissuade you from watching the excellent 1955 original TUNTEMATON SOTILAS, or even better TALVISOTA (THE WINTER WAR, 1989) which is sort-of a prequel to this film... in that it shows what the Continuation War was a continuation of.