Finnish Continuation War: Unknown Soldier

Just found out about this Finnish war movie, ordered it, and highly recommend it. This three hour film comes up to the standards of Tali-Ihantala 1944  but the emphasis is less on brave, outnumbered Finns fighting against great odds in defense of the homeland to hard fighting and sometimes demoralized troops not so enthusiastic about fighting for a "Greater Finland". 

There is a scene where the Finns cross the old, pre-Winter Warborder and some question the wisdom of taking Russian territory. The Finns dilemma was similar to another minor Axis Ally, Romania. Once the Romanians retook Bessarabia (recently annexed by the Soviets) most common soldiers considered their job done. As the Romanians pushed further east and losses mounted, morale dropped, culminating in the disintegration of the Romanian army in the icy fields around Stalingrad. Unfortunately, for the Finns and Romanians, once involved with Hitler's attack on Russia, there were only two apparent outcomes, total victory or total defeat. It is outside the scope of this review to speculate on how Finland retained it independence after the war but the film makes clear that this is an expensive gamble.

One of the early scenes in which a platoon is ordered to advance at all costs and is pinned down within seconds of advancing into the open is terrific. The young Lieutenant is terrified and hugs the earth and only overcomes his fear due to the actions of an older officer who leads by example. The old officer seemed well into retirement age and may be a means of depicting total mobilization for the war.

Compared with Tali-Ihantala 1944 many Finns are quick to lose morale and on many occasions abandon their posts and even wounded comrades. The film also depicts human nature at its worst when showing a prisoner shot maliciously, drunkenness and looting of a captured Russian town.

Unknown Soldier follows a machine gun company from mobilization through three years of war. The main protagonists is a middle aged veteran of the Winter War, a reservist that has a difficult time to adjusting to the professional army of the Continuation War. Despite his many run ins with officers his experience is valued and his heroics on the battlefield save the day on a few occasions. 


I still have to see Talvisota, which takes place during the Winter War.

Questions for those familiar with Finn military history:

Q: Was there a difference in discipline, and relations between the ranks when comparing the army fielded by the Finns in the Winter War versus the army of the Continuation War?

Q: Is Unknown Soldier a pure "anti-war" film or is it an accurate description of demoralized troops fighting an unpopular war (unpopular at least for the troops having to fight outside of Finnish territory)?