THE BOYS
Based on the novel by Paavo Rintala
Cinematography: Olavi Tuomi Music: Einar Englund
Written and directed by Mikko Niskanen
Jake!
What's up, Immu?
There are Krauts at the station again.
Jake, hold on, I'm coming too.
Well, I'll be...
Hey, Matti, Krauts at the station!
Don't touch anything, leave it as it is.
They're stopping at the Lyöty station.
Put the paper away.
Pate! Pate!
Just a minute!
- Eat first, Paavo. - I already did. Bye!
Paavo!
Hey, come have a look!
Watch her for me, will you?
On the relation of Oulu's boys with the great ideal of the time,
the war and its representatives:
the alpine jaegers of the German mountain army.
Immu...
Pate...
Matti...
Urkki...
...and Jake.
A new generation, whose maturation into grown men was to happen in the 1940s.
Translate this to him as well.
That we Finns greet our German comrades-in-arms with pride and joy.
Let's take a short cut, boys!
AIR-RAID SHELTER - 100 METERS
Guten Tag!
Do you speak German? Want chocolate?
Danke, danke. Thank you!
Me Finn boy, me.
- Is it stopping? - No, it's going straight to the front.
All clear.
GERMAN SOLDIERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GET ON THE TRAIN
Haben sie Bier?
Nein, nein! Es gibt nichts!
Not today, but tomorrow we'll have basketfuls of beer!
- Auf Wiedersehen! - Auf Wiedersehen!
Hey Kainuu, we're with you, we'll help you.
- We'll even get a cart. - We'll bring as much as you need!
Now Toppila's lager is starting to sell well!
Take 50 of them if you need.
Got any more beer? We're all out. It sells by trainloads now.
That military police is totally insane.
- He's got an ox's voice. - All that's missing is a nose ring.
I've been told that Kraut trains won't stop at this station anymore.
- What, they won't? - Right.
Maybe that mad military police gave orders not to stop anymore.
- He can't do that. - They must hurry to the front.
Maybe they'd buy at the school?
Are you crazy? They can buy their own stuff at a kiosk.
My mother who works at the school told me that the Krauts are cursing,
because the roads are all muddy and there's not enough shoe shiners.
What roads? They're all over the bushes every night.
Downtown lads told me they've seen lots of crazy stuff.
We'd make a lot of money if we founded a cleaning station.
I ain't cleaning any shoes!
We can just spy on them.
Next Saturday, when the Krauts are on leave, we'll go watch them.
All right!
Have a good evening in Oulu. You must be back here by 1 o'clock.
In the morning you'll be ready to leave at 7 o'clock.
Understood? Good evening, soldiers!
- Guten Tag! - Ach, guten Tag!
Danke, danke!
- Let's follow that guy. - Nah, what woman would go with him?
Why not?
Someone might go, hoping for cookies and marmalade.
- Let's follow the fattie! - Some women like fat.
I told you he might get lucky.
They're going to a café.
A Kraut won't waste much time on coffee.
Oh crap, the dorks from Tuira are on the same trail.
- It won't work if they tag along. - We'll be too many.
Come on, boys.
Hey, guys! What are you loafing here for?
Did someone say something?
- Go away, that's our catch. - We found him first.
What, is that couple your property?
Do you have proof of it?
We can't follow the same pair. We're too many.
That's why we don't take you with us.
- Go to your night potty. - We're not going, you are.
- Strike if you dare, dorks. - Or we'll do it.
Take that, Tuira lad!
We'll show those who pick on Raksila boys!
- Finnish boys. - Finnische Knaben, ja.
Don't strangle me, let's go after them instead.
- Let's not say anything to the others. - All right.
- Give me a little kiss. - No, no...
But I love you!
- Hey lads, where's Jake? - And Topi?
- Jake! - Topi!
- Damn it, they've betrayed us. - After them, quick!
Beautiful weather, isn't it?
Let's sit here, come.
Empty-handed again.
Calm down, boys!
Hey, that can only be a German train at this hour!
Hurry, let's go sell beer.
Damn that military police! No trading today.
Someone oughta teach him a lesson.
Right, and in the meanwhile the others could trade.
Urkki, you go, since you've got only one bottle.
- Not me. - You're too scared.
Too scared?
If I go now, it'll be someone else next time.
- It's a deal. - Take my bottle and sell it.
Let's go then!
Ich liebe dich!
Donnerwetter!
Good work, Urkki. You'll be a fine bootlegger one day.
Just like you.
They weren't in the mood for shopping today.
One of them spat on my palm.
They've drunk their bellies full of watered-down beer in Kemi.
There'll be one more train in the early night, from the front.
There's gotta be some thirsty soldiers there!
- And we'll be the only sellers. - We'll sell every bottle!
Go to the part of the track yard near the graveyard.
So long, Kainuu!
There might be no buyers, though.
Hear anything?
- It's coming slowly. - I can see it already.
- Let's take cover behind that sandbank. - All right.
What a dark train.
- It's for air cover. - Let's go!
- Urkki! - Don't...
Everything is in order.
Listen, boys... There's something fishy here.
Now we'll sell Toppila lager!
Where's Urkki?
Good beer. Bier, guten Bier.
Guten Bier.
Let's go, quick!
Well?
It was a corpse train.
Whole train full of corpses!
I told you it might not carry any buyers.
- Hey, where's Jake? - He stayed behind, wheezing.
There's Jake now.
- Where were you? - I was wheezing, I got tired.
What? Wheezing?
Clearly he has asthma.
- I've got nothing. - What are you giggling at?
We sold beer to corpses.
Fire!
You have fallen, so that we may be free.
I tell you, there's no nobler death
than to die for your religion and your country.
Dear relatives,
I tell you in the name of Jesus Christ
that the spilt blood and the wounds in these young men
have, for us, truly become the blood and wounds of Jesus Christ.
I am proud to give final blessings to
my old pupil Kalle Armas Juntunen,
an enterprising and talented boy from Karelia.
Fathers and mothers,
today, the Holy Spirit reaches you through them
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Look, the gates of heaven open
and these men step into the brightness.
Paavo, what are you grinning for?
You can't do that in a funeral.
Kalle Armas Juntunen, from dust you have come,
and to dust you shall return,
to be awakened by Jesus Christ on the last day.
Amen.
If you had to die,
why couldn't it have been during springtime in Karelia?
Spring is so beautiful there.
I suddenly got the feeling Kalle isn't dead after all.
Enough about the biblical times. Let's get closer to our own time.
Well then, who was the youngest hero of the Finnish civil war?
Ilmari Kaarela shall tell us about him.
Right, it was a young soldier boy, Onni Kokko.
He went to war as a wee kid.
He became messenger to an officer.
And then he was wounded.
Oh yeah, and then he died by his wounds.
That's the kind of hero he was, although he was so young when he went.
And that's about all I know of him.
Well done, Ilmari.
Right, he was Onni Kokko. Exactly your age.
A 14-year-old boy.
A God-given destiny was fulfilled in him.
Just like in David.
We can see Onni Kokko herding cows, too,
there in the meadows of Liminka. Think about it, boys.
Which ones of our contemporary heroes can you name?
Everyone should know at least one hero,
either from the Winter War or the one we're in now. Jaakko?
Mannerheim is one hero.
He, of course.
Any others?
I've heard talk about the Ace regiment and General Lagus.
Those guys go and clean up real good, and nothing can hold them back.
Sit down, you too.
Hear me, boys.
Let me tell you about a former student of this school.
His name, too, will be on the marble board in our ceremonial hall.
He matriculated here in the spring before last, with top grades.
Then he went to Germany to train as a pilot.
Last August he was brought back home
in a little funerary urn.
The plane had been shot down.
But before that he had shot down hundreds of enemy planes.
His plane was burned and destroyed completely.
Only a heap of ash lay where the plane had crashed.
An urn like that is sacred, boys.
Pure ash, that's all.
There is no greater sign of heroism these days
than funerary urns like that.
What is it, Ilmari?
Well, sir, I was just thinking,
wasn't the aeroplane completely destroyed?
- I mean, reduced to ashes? - Of course.
Well, how is it possible to separate the pure ashes?
Surely junk from the fighter would've been mixed up with it.
Ilmari Kaarela, sit down, be silent and be ashamed!
- Sir, I didn't... - Sit down!
Boys, tell Kaarela how it can be done.
Namely pure ashes, nothing else.
Who can tell?
You, Pentti.
I think that the hero's ashes could be picked from the remains of the plane
with some kind of a chemical suction device.
Very good, Pentti.
- There you had it, Ilmari Kaarela. - Sir...
Sit down. You've already done enough to ruin this lesson.
Think, and try to find the means to become like our heroes.
Think of heroic deeds
instead of wasting your strength on nitpicking.
Listen, mother, I'm joining the junior army.
Oh dear child, but do join.
Every boy should be in a club of some kind.
You're not joining any junior army. Is that clear?
But Iikka, what is it? Let him join.
Isn't it war enough, with me leaving to be cannon fodder?
- Iikka, you... - Don't get mad, Iikka. I won't join.
What should I do then?
Why do you need to do something?
No special reason. Oh, now I know!
Bye then.
They're dictator's clubs, they are.
Hey guys, I've got something exciting coming up.
- What is it? - Let's play heroes.
Heroes? You play with your momma.
- That's my idea, isn't it a good idea? - Your idea!
Don't cackle, you don't understand this whole hero stuff.
Do you remember Admiral Spofin's drummer boys,
or Tapani Löfving's or Olli Tiainen's guerrillas?
- I don't remember. - Sure you don't.
You can't even read, but the others do remember.
Let's fight for justice in Oulu just like they did.
There's no justice worth fighting for in Oulu.
I've got it! Let's join the junior army and get rifles.
Then we'll shoot desants in mid-air.
Have you seen a single desant in Oulu?
Hey, I know. Let's put on masks
and start robbing women walking through the tunnel.
Oh, child. Robbing, you think?
What's heroic about that?
Urkki, you made a fool of yourself.
But that's an idea. Let's start protecting them.
Yeah, all the crooks are after them.
GENERAL AIR-RAID SHELTER For 50 people
It's not going too well.
- No one's attacking them. - Of course, since no one's in there!
We gotta imagine someone is in there. This is no hero stuff otherwise.
Pate, go in the passageway
and scream the place down if somebody comes.
Quick! Some hag, I mean young woman, is coming.
Good evening, miss.
Good evening. What are you playing?
We'd like to escort you through the tunnel, since it's so dark in there.
Yeah. Boogieman could be there.
Why not, if you are afraid.
- We're not... - But you might be, since it's so dark.
Booo!
Oh, it was one of your friends. I got frightened.
- Well, bye, boys. - Bye bye.
Stop that hollering!
It won't work out.
The whole hero business has become stale.
Didn't I tell you we should just start robbing?
- That's what women like. - Bah, robbing!
You should shout like a robber, like this.
- That's the way. - Hey!
Good evening, ma'am.
Stop yammering. Brats shooting their mouths here.
Are you criminals, ambushing here?
No, we want to help you carry your bag.
Stay away from me! Don't come closer or I'll scream.
Hey Jake, where are you going?
Dear Lord, what monstrous brats!
They should be sent to a reformatory.
Help, help! Give it back, you brat!
- There's your bag. - I'll report you to the police.
Goddammit, what has he done!
I'll report this to the police. Police, police!
- I took twenty marks off you! - Help, help!
Dammit, what'd you do?
Who do you think you are?
I'm Rommel. It's war time!
- It was so exciting. - Shut your mouth!
You spoiled the whole hero thing.
The story of the tunnel heroes is now over.
Which one of our contemporary heroes
has performed the longest horse ride?
Ilmari Kaarela?
Hey Immu, he asked you.
Ilmari!
Yes?
Pentti.
Mannerheim.
That's right. It was Field Marshall Mannerheim.
- Goodbye, boys. - Goodbye.
Shut up, or I'll slug you.
Guys, come away.
Hey Kustu, you stand guard. Don't let anybody in.
- We have a negotiation. - No one!
You can't go in there!
Why don't you start trading? You'd get your own booze and cigarettes.
Yeah. That's some good stuff!
- The best German cognac. - Yeah, Juno is what we smoke.
At least while the winter lasts and the Krauts are cold.
Few boys are buddies with the Germans like we are.
How'd you get them?
Hitler miscalculated the need for woollen clothes. The Krauts are damn cold.
They'll trade anything for wools. Coffee and cognac...
Tobacco and cameras...
What the hell are you ogling at?
Don't brag, you're not the king of bootleggers.
Beat his face in!
They didn't let me in, a guy was blocking me.
But guess what I saw? They had good German cognac.
- Stop lying. - Sure, it was genuine cognac.
They'd gotten it from the Germans.
How'd they do that?
It seems the Germans are damn cold, so they exchanged it to wools.
Well if you look at the Germans, you can see that they're really cold.
It might be exciting.
Lend Urkki a hand. He can't make it himself.
- They're freezing so much. - It's not true!
How could a German soldier suffer from cold?
Stop arguing.
That's what the Krauts themselves say.
Adolf may be a great strategist,
but he doesn't know horse shit about being a tailor or shoemaker.
Yeah, they really are cold.
I wish it'd get really cold, so they'd all freeze in a row in the snow
That would be a sweet sight.
Shut up, you Rommel!
Then the German your mom's seeing would freeze as well.
That's not true. Mom's seeing no German.
She's just working at the school. Get it in your head!
Let go!
Don't choke him! Stop it!
Fools, you've messed it all up.
Stop choking him!
Oh, kids are fighting again.
Damn brats!
Pate is a liar. My mom's got no German.
Listen, Jake. I didn't really mean it.
To start fighting like that!
I told you they're usually freezing.
No they're not! You'll freeze first like a cockroach.
Stop arguing, you fools!
I just said we could trade for something nice:
chocolate, coffee, cameras, daggers...
Everything you can get from them.
Let's see if you can catch us without your mamma's help!
Damnation, what yelling!
You'll get your ass kicked yet!
Just listen to those buffoons bragging.
Look at them, they're heroes, everybody's talking about them.
They're trading with the Germans. That's just what I was talking about.
But we could trade as well.
Hey guys, all we'd need is one of those Belgian workhorses.
Hell yes. Those Tuira boys said they have a cannonball,
but we'd just answer that we've got a horse.
- Hell, a horse stolen from the Krauts! - Yeah!
And if you don't believe it, come and see!
What can we trade with?
- Let's snatch socks from women. - Straight from the laundry lines!
Let's try to get it without stealing first.
If only it got really cold so we'd get to do stealing and trading.
Let's go find some Germans.
Could we trade with them?
They're drunk!
Totally wasted.
Hey guys, seen any Krauts?
Sure, they've been hauling bread all day.
- Did they seem to be freezing? - Damn yes.
- One of them had his nose all white. - He must've been freezing.
They've only got their caps and summer boots on.
Stomping their feet all the time.
Hey lads, another man there. Let's go.
Good, this plan is working perfectly.
I'll speak. I'm the one who knows German.
There's gotta be some order.
I'll do the talking, remember that.
Wir wollen bread, that guy helfen, arbeiten!
Ja, ja, ja! Gut, gut! Danke!
Jawohl!
Quick, get on the wagon!
Dammit!
You are kalt. Damn kalt!
Tell him it's so cold your piss freezes mid-air.
- Was, was? - Nichts, Humor!
- Wollen Sie Wolle...sehr gut? - Wolle!
Gut, gut! Perkele!
I'll talk to him, go load the wagon.
Wir haben...Wollwaren!
Ein Moment, ein Moment...
Hier sehen wir haben...wools!
Wollwaren, wools! Zu verkauft. Verstehen, verstehen?
Ach, ich verstehe.
Sure, we've got wools!
Shut up there!
Ask him for a ball, the old one's busted.
So we can play in the summer.
Stop messing about!
He's probably asking what we can trade.
If he can get us a Belgian horse,
I'll steal the chandelier from the town hall if need be.
We have all you need. Cognac, cameras...
Ask him when he's coming back, and we'll get what he needs.
Wir haben wollens...shirt, er...shirt.
He's afraid to come here with his treasures.
Tell him we'll come to the Isko barracks.
Sure, Isko.
Yeah, Isko!
Ask him where exactly.
Wohin wehlen...place. Platz, Platz!
- You'll come on Monday. - Aha!
Just a minute. Not all. Just two.
Just two... Attention! Just one, just one boy.
- No, two boys! - Well, all right.
- Auf Wiedersehen! - Auf Wiedersehen!
I don't get it. Why'd he give such a peculiar place
and late time for the exchange?
- I'm sure to go if we get a camera. - Me too.
- Let's go and see. - Sure, we're not afraid of the dark.
It's too early to be bragging with your bravery.
I mean, there's no gate, something might be wrong here.
At least one thing: we don't even have the wool shirts yet.
Right, let's go see where they are drying up.
And then just grab them!
This evening when everybody's sleeping, we'll do our rounds.
Sure, this evening. We'll find some.
- Agreed. - Let's go.
Immu!
Immu, come on!
But Ilmari, where are you going so late?
Listen, mom, I'm just going out for a bit.
A little chatting and skiing with the guys.
I won't be long. I'll soon be back.
Hey, guys. Anything in sight?
- Sure there is. - There's some wools.
If we have to steal, let's not take those. They're Iikka's.
Sure, he needs them as much as the Germans.
But he's going to be an officer.
So? Do you think officers don't get cold?
This won't do. Let's go find something else.
And quick, or we'll have to return empty-handed.
Nothing but kids' pissy pants.
Is everyone in Raksila that dirty?
They never wash their clothes.
We need to find woolly shirts and that's it.
How about going to the town?
To the yards of total strangers? That'd be sheer theft.
What do you think it's here?
It's different with your own folks. We'd just borrow them.
And when we'd have a whole lot of coffee, they'd get their share.
Right, it wouldn't be theft at all.
We're just helping those who don't have enough brains to trade.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Let's just get to work!
Right, it's no theft. We're just like war bums.
What the hell are you running around for,
scaring people and dirtying my laundry?
- That broad sure got mad! - She sure did.
Why didn't we take it by force?
Hey, guys! Look what they've got hanging.
Real wool, no cretonne.
There's a sock and half.
- And slipovers too. - Who's gonna get it?
- I'll go, if you don't dare. - Shut up! It's not about daring.
- I could go. - All right.
- Keep your fingers crossed. - Right.
We'll whistle if there's movement in the yard.
A sprout am I in your garden yard,
For heaven was I created.
To have You, Father, as graceful guard
Was in my birth designated.
Dear children, we thank the Lord for the possibility
to start another school day despite the grim war times.
But as we start, I must once again bring up
the calamities and adversities of human life
these exceptional, though victorious, times bring about.
I will tell you an example.
Even from our peaceful yard last night,
desants and other pests stole my woolly shirt.
And a scarf and a pair of gloves of a railway worker.
Shirt thieves like that are our common enemies
who seek to dispel our common front by way of their misdeeds
and to sow amorality among our troops.
Therefore they must be destroyed and deported
to the country for whom they do their dirty work.
Let us pray.
They had stolen a woolly shirt from the teacher.
From me too, those damn desants!
Although it's no wonder they stole from the teacher.
- He's in the Patriotic People's Movement. - And a lard dealer!
And totally insane otherwise, too.
But why me, a Labour man?
Have you seen any tracks?
The scarf belonged to that howler monkey.
Right, that fat railroader.
And we ain't giving any coffee to the teacher!
Of course not, after telling us off like that.
A believer and everything.
If he only prayed more devoutly,
maybe God would give him a new woolly shirt.
No he won't. I've got it stashed away.
- Keep it well hidden from moths. - Moths in the winter?
Right. Everyone draw a splinter.
He who draws the shortest one gets to come with me.
The Kraut said only two are allowed.
Matti, you go first.
I got it. I get to make the trade with Immu!
Let's follow this road until we're pretty close to the barracks.
But ski quietly, so they can't hear us.
- No one can hear us anyway. - Better be careful!
Toppila lies that way.
That's the Oulu-Kemi railway line.
The fence must be within about a hundred metres.
It's so gloomy.
Are you scared, Urkki?
Not one bit. I just said it looks gloomy.
Boys... What if it's a trap?
What do you mean, a trap?
What if they're shooting Krauts? They'll capture you.
They won't dare. It's bootlegging for them, too.
They'll get busted first if they are caught by their police.
You've got bad nerves.
We'll whistle if they try something.
If that happens, go get help.
But don't give the woolly shirt until you've got the camera.
We won't. Let's go.
Let's not stay here, guys.
Let's listen a bit.
It's just the forest hissing.
There it is.
What if this really is a trap?
Let's take cover behind that bush.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
Be quiet. I hear something.
Stop babbling.
Let's lie here side by side.
Do you see it? A small light.
Yeah...
Look! Look at that.
I'm going in. Turn your skis ready facing the guys.
- If they try something, get help. - Okay.
Komm hier!
Komm hier. Schnell!
Aber vorsichtig.
Juno...
Do you have the cognac and the camera?
Yes, we have them. Just have a look.
But do you have woolly socks? From handmade wool?
What? Do you?
- Mein Herr! - Cognac first!
And the camera.
Und Juno, Juno. Hier.
Hey, Urk--
I'm sure I heard Urkki's voice.
Come help Immu, his scream was cut off.
Let's not go, guys.
- I'm going. - Me too.
Jake, you stay. And if you don't hear from us, get help.
- Not me. - You gotta stay.
Don't leave me, guys, please.
Be careful.
- You went and escaped! - No I didn't.
I went to get help, since your shouting was cut off like that.
The Krauts were damn scared.
They covered my mouth when I tried to shout to you.
- Did you get a camera? - Look at this.
- Oh boy, what a camera. - That's no box.
And cognac!
German cognac, for sure.
- And so many boxes of Juno. - Juno!
- They were damn nice Germans. - Yes they were.
Hey, guys, there's film inside.
Film inside...
Then it must be stolen.
Now I see why I had to be so quiet about it.
And the guy with whom we made the agreement wasn't among them.
No, let's give it back.
Immu, don't go.
Mother and father probably don't know that I'm sick.
I have to talk to them.
Dear Jesus, our saviour.
Help my soul.
Fire!
They were shooting people.
It was the most horrible thing I've seen in my life.
Oh, it's you, Jaakko.
Where are you coming from so late?
Oh, how untidy you are.
And look at your hair!
Come now. I'll present someone to you.
We have a guest, uncle Fritz.
Fritz, this is my little son, Jaakko.
Very good. But you're a big boy. Good day!
This is uncle Fritz, from the school.
I think we shall be good friends.
He hopes that you become very good friends.
Smile a bit, Jaakko darling.
He's brought you things: chocolate, candy, cookies.
No! No tobacco, Fritz.
Jaakko, let's go to the kitchen. The goodies are there.
Try to cheer up, dear Jaakko.
Your father's gone away, you know. And I'm sure he'll understand me.
You're going to have loads of fun with us.
Uncle Fritz is a good man and he likes you.
Eat now, Jaakko, and then go to bed.
Mommy's going to have a little chat with uncle Fritz.
Good night, dear Jaakko.
Look how excited she is.
She wags her tail like a white wagtail.
Bah, excited.
All they think about is coffee and chocolate when they go there.
And the German language.
Coffee and grammar can't hide women's desires.
Just look.
You're right, Urkki.
Rudolf, Rudolf. Wonderful Rudolf!
Ich liebe dich!
I got an idea. Let's become Germans.
Then all the women will like us!
RAKSILA'S ARTISTIC THEATER
Sure I'll come. I'll even write about it for the newspaper.
It'll be worth it.
Do we even have to pay for it?
Of course we'll have to ask for some kind of a contribution.
Lay the plank straight, so Mannerheim can stroll properly.
- It must come down if needed. - A bit to the left.
- Good day, Artturi. - Good day.
I guess you haven't heard of the great things up at Raksila.
What is it?
The Raksila boys have decided to put up a real theatre performance.
Why don't you, Artturi, take your photographic devices with you,
and we'll make tomorrow's issue a magnificent special one.
That suits me.
- I wonder if any girls will come. - All the toothless old hags in Raksila!
Everyone will fall in love with us when they see us playing Germans.
And the teacher will write a piece for the newspaper.
Beg your mothers for money, it won't be performed for free.
Will it stay up?
It would be a really bad blunder if it fell on innocent spectators.
It's notable that even in these times our youth has such lofty hobbies.
It's thanks to instilling proper ideals into them.
That's right.
Quick, people are swarming on the road.
Faster, boys! Urkki is going to be the porter.
Jake, take these cigarettes to the train car.
We should've rehearsed this at least once.
Rehearsing won't improve a good play.
We know the plot already. Pate, come help me lift this.
Well well, Raksila's Artistic Theater, no less!
How interesting!
You may sit in the rocking chair, teacher.
Well, well. Thank you.
Go through the ticket booth! You have to pay!
No jumping the queue!
Go through the ticket booth.
What should I use as a headline?
Maybe "Home-grown amateur theatre"?
No, that's too common.
"The spirit stays alive in the toughest of times." That's better.
Pate, come quick so that we can start.
First we'll count the box office.
Jake, go give the welcoming address.
- Okay, I will. - Go, go!
I wonder what they'll be showing. Will it be a comedy by Shakespeare?
Ladies and, uh, gentlemen.
Raksila's Artistic Theater presents to you a dramatic play called "The Birthday".
Sounds exciting!
The teacher gave a hundred. 218 marks in all.
I think we'll have to act pretty well.
The subject of the play is taken from when Mannerheim,
that is, the Marshal of Finland, had his 75th birthday.
And even Hitler was among the guests, as we could read in the papers.
So, come and see the act on the stage,
seeing as Hitler's coming too.
So, welcome and make yourselves comfortable.
Congratulations, Marshal!
Thank you, boys!
- Thanks to yourself. - Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Heil Hitler! - Hey Hitler and the rest of the gang!
- Howdy, old Adolf! - Hello!
Adolph's pace. Forward march!
- Hello, hello! - Hello to you too!
Stop pushing, dammit!
Louder, louder!
You mustn't recite your lines so quietly that the audience can't hear you.
Marshal of Finland, uh... Immu
I mean, Mannerheim. Attention, at ease!
I, Hitler, have the honour of awarding you the Golden Cross of Hitler.
Hey band, blow your silver horns.
From the top of the ladder
Hitler gives Mannerheim the Golden Cross.
Horse shit!
Now this is going too far!
Attention! Attention!
The performance must be stopped. Shows like this can't be put on!
Hold on, ladies and gentlemen.
Watch for your money's worth.
There's gonna be an exciting scene where Hitler and Mannerheim
sit in a train car and blow cigarette smoke in each other's eyes!
Cigarette smoke, eh?
And we've got a real cigar stump, too!
You rascals! Get out of here, each one of you!
You should be performing elevating, patriotic plays!
I'll let your parents know. Discipline, discipline!
Go away! To your homes, everyone!
If this artistic theater is still standing tomorrow, I'll notify the police.
Come, Artturi, there's nothing left for us to do.
And I thought it would be just innocent child's play.
That's just the element destined to end up in the bottom of our society.
We were damn lucky that black market bootlegger didn't want his money back.
There have been reports that you have been treating Finnish women
the way you treated Norwegian women in Norway.
This needs to stop!
Finnish women should be respected.
German soldiers didn't come to Finland to get the clap but to fight.
We have to be friendly to our Finnish comrades-in-arms.
Finnish officers have to be saluted. Understood?
They're the new Krauts.
I know. They're the German reserves freshly brought from Norway.
- So they are! - They're old geezers.
I'll go talk some German to them.
But you don't know any German!
...the Second Company. Understood?
Ich liebe dich!
- Let me go! - Let him go!
Hands off!
What the hell's wrong with those Germans?
They're not like they used to be.
Let's revenge for Urkki by putting a grenade under that guy's pillow.
There's another madman.
You're like little kids. No sense of reality.
Hear Immu talk!
You just gotta put it in your heads.
Those Krauts who've come lately aren't real Germans.
Following them around isn't the real deal.
Yep, Immu is right, we'll have to think of a real deal.
Hey Jake, your father's home.
You've left your skis lying there.
- Good day, Mr. Hoikka. - Good day.
I haven't seen you for a while.
- Good day, boys. - Good day.
Good day! So, what's up nowadays?
Ah, who cares really. Hello, boys.
It's been going well, then.
Sevastopol was conquered last summer, too.
I wouldn't know much about that.
That's a superb army, the German army.
I don't really care about anything.
But I hear the whole shit is surrounded in Stalingrad.
No, no! It's the other way around.
Even a little bird would understand it,
if it's been following the news on the front line even a little bit.
The Führer intends to lure the whole Russky army there during the winter.
And come summer, the Russian lad won't rise again.
- Right, boys? - Yep, that's how it is.
St. Petersburg will fall soon, too.
I've got a feeling that next summer
we'll be in St. Petersburg, looking for lots to buy.
Boys, surely we'll go to work in St. Petersburg next summer?
- Oh, we don't know... - How would we get there?
By train, of course. Comfortably and quickly.
Just think about it, boys. Wouldn't that be a nice job?
Bye then, boys.
Goodbye.
- Hey guys, I got it. - What is it now?
Urkki got an idea!
I mean we won't be little boys anymore.
- We'll go to work in St. Petersburg. - What?
Go with your momma. It's not been conquered yet.
Toikka knows better than you.
- What could we do there? - Shine shoes, for example.
Yeah, that would be a good job.
We'll have to talk to someone first.
Why don't we wait until they conquer St. Petersburg?
If we wait for that, it'll be too late already.
- Who do we need to talk to? - Mr. Toikka.
No, not Toikka, it must be some General in Oulu.
- There are no Generals in Oulu. - Hey, I know!
Let's talk to the headmaster. He'll know.
Well, what is it? What do you have in your minds?
What have you done this time?
Well, we have a request for you, sir.
What kind of a request is it? Let's hear it.
You there.
Well, me and the boys... We'd like to help.
I mean, we want to be useful in some way.
By doing some real work.
You see, we'd like to volunteer for service.
After St. Petersburg is conquered, we could start cleaning up there.
- Yeah, shining shoes or something. - Right, the city must be all dusty.
What's this supposed to be?
Shining shoes in St. Petersburg!
What kind of a game is this?
Go home now, boys, students of this lyceum.
I'll get you even to Moscow, if the time comes.
But you might as well have suggested going to Tasmania.
Go home now.
Sir, may I have a word?
St. Petersburg? Who told you to say a thing like that?
Don't you know politics aren't allowed in school?
How unashamedly you try
to ruin the reputation of our esteemed school.
You're talking politics. Who put such thoughts in your heads?
We didn't...
We must summon their class supervisor.
He must investigate this matter thoroughly.
This might conceal a system
meant to make our patriotic education look ridiculous.
There's your sense of reality, smart-ass!
I'll never look for a sense of reality, you can take my word for it.
How'd it go, boys?
An hour and a half of detention, that's it.
It was all Immu's and Urkki's fault.
You were mad to anger the teachers. It'll ruin our grades.
Shut up, all of you!
Don't you know all grown-ups are insane?
Now comes the time for flowers,
For joy, for beauty great.
Come near, you summer hours,
Earth's grasses recreate.
Sun's kind and lovely charming
Of dead things winter slew,
Comes intimately warming
And all is born anew.
Jaakko.
Lord, we thank thee for being able to go to school
despite the severe time of war.
We also thank thee for the past school year.
O Lord, you who look upon us,
we thank thee for being allowed to enjoy
the light of thy grace and the freedom of our fatherland.
Protect the soldiers defending our borders.
Protect the teachers and pupils of our school in times to come.
Let us pray.
May the Lord bless us and protect us,
may he turn his face towards us and be merciful unto us.
May the Lord turn to us and give us eternal peace
in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
He won't make it.
- He did it! - Urkki is becoming a man.
- He'll man up little by little. - Stop bragging.
If you had shoes like mine, you wouldn't make it either.
These aren't anything to brag about.
Mine are even worse.
Let's agree that everyone has just as bad shoes.
Seeing this war through to the final victory
is beginning to be felt in our shoes.
- That's our sacrifice. - What sacrifice?
Don't you know religion?
You know, Isaac, no, Joseph, no...
It was that guy Abraham who sacrificed his son Esau.
No, his son Isaac... Oh damn, it was Esau, yeah.
No one's sacrificing my shoes, but I'm ready to sacrifice you.
Hey guys, look. The reverend is out for a walk.
O sacred Lord, hear the prayer of us bootleggers.
Prolong the war and make us rich.
You screwed up badly, holding that prayer.
Did you hear, guys, that I'm getting a scholarship.
The religion teacher is sure to support me.
Do you know what that money is going to be used for?
I'll buy butter and then...
- Oh, you mean bootlegging? - Yeah.
Look at this, guys. A bit of money.
- I wonder what time it is... - Look, he's got a watch.
Yeah... Well, I gotta go.
Just a little gig and a fat girl waiting.
Do you know what a whore is?
Girls...
What do you do to them?
Just squeeze a bit, like that.
See you, kids. Little gigs and a girl waiting.
You're lying like a pig! Who do you think you are?
I'm Rommel.
He's lying. And he's no Rommel anymore.
- He's just talking big. - And he's got no girls waiting.
But our Iikka has a bride.
Yesterday he wolfed down his dinner and rushed straight out.
- Who is it? - Liisa Toikka.
Frankly I was hoping you'd find a high-ranking German officer.
But you have decided to marry this Lieutenant Iikka Kaarela,
so...
I guess he'll become a gent, too, in time.
In peace times it wouldn't have been possible, of course.
Where are you going?
I came to see my mother, since I got my report card.
- She asked me to come show it. - She's not here.
- But she asked me to. - You can't loiter around here.
German property is held here and I'm responsible for it.
Go wait in the yard. Go, go, go!
Told you to come... So?
Jeepers, they're going to the graveyard.
You can make love there, too.
Tell me, Iikka, how do you dear lads fare on the front?
It's so quiet on the front these days. It actually feels creepy.
You hear banging from the neighbour's side, and it makes you think.
What could they be preparing?
- Let's sit there. - Let's.
Let's go. It's so cold.
See how the crosses look the same.
There will be brighter ones in the summer.
Let me say it: Finnish soldiers aren't worth a thing.
Don't you see, they're engaged.
In love, do you get it?
They could still do something.
A German would have fathered twins by now.
You're a kid. You don't understand.
Look, guys, all the crosses look alike.
There's one brand new.
- One swallow doesn't make a summer. - Let's go home, guys. I'm cold.
- I'm colder than you are. - No, me.
I'm the coldest of all, my teeth are clacking.
Therefore all furloughs are cancelled,
and everyone must return to their units instantly.
That's how it is: we need every man to strike Ivan down.
Who was it at school who said the Führer will soon press a button in Berlin,
and all of London will blow up?
- The religion teacher. - The one at the lyceum.
There you heard it, religious education is in the right hands.
As soon as I hear victory has been reached,
I'll put on my bridal gown.
Actually I pity those Krauts.
A tired bunch.
They'll attack in the Eastern Front in their parade uniforms yet.
Have you heard any assault gun rounds go off in Raksila?
What are those?
- Poor kids don't know the king of blasts. - Damn what a sound it makes!
- We've had those, too. - No you haven't, they're brand new.
- Fine like a big pike. - Not every kid can steal them.
Let's join our forces and steal one together.
Hold your horses, we won't join anything.
I'm in if we can get one of those.
- We're not just showing off. - Let's go, Immu.
All right, then. But no horsing around.
A roar like that hasn't been heard in Oulu before.
Whistle as soon as you've got it.
- We'll take care of the guard. - Gotcha.
MORTALL DANGER! NO ENTRIE
Hast du eine Schwester? Nicht wahr?
I've got a sister, all right. Swester, yup
- Yeah, one-year-old. - He didn't ask for her age!
Oh brother, what an ammo!
No fingerprints!
Guys, I hear a sweet ringing inside.
Let me listen to it!
Blow that up in our shed and the whole Raksila will be in shreds.
Your shed! Go take shelter there with your momma.
Do they think we'll give it to them?
It belongs to us now, get yourselves one of your own!
- Darnation, look what they've done! - It belongs to us just the same.
- Damn crooks. - Let's go after them!
It's horrible.
Two of the Tuira boys are dead,
and the rest are probably crippled for life.
Jaakko, promise me you won't do anything like that.
Promise me that you'll only hang around with good boys.
I left you some money. You'll go to the movies and...
Come to the school to visit mother and uncle Fritz.
Jaakko, everything will be all right.
Soon we'll be together all the time.
Bye, Jaakko.
You've brought a noble message.
I'm proud that your brother, Lieutenant Iikka Kaarela, died like he should.
He has redeemed us both, as two equal citizens of free Finland.
Remember, too, when you go to school...
Always remember, that the death of your brother,
and hundreds of thousands of noble young men like him,
obligates you to fight until the final victory.
Glory and fatherland!
I'll let Liisa know as soon as she comes home from swimming.
Goodbye.
Goodbye!
Immu, where are you going?
I have important matters to take care of.
The battlefront demands blood.
Glory, fatherland.
Lieutenant Iikka and Ilmari Kaarela: Pro patria.
Talented boys, both of them.
- Hello, boys. - Hello.
- Are you lying in bed all day? - Well, I...
Your father said you'd be living with your grandmother.
My, how stuffy it is here.
There are cookies, too. Have some, Risto.
They belong to you and nobody else.
This is your new home.
Did your mother leave you any money?
There's some in the drawer.
If you plan on getting food here, you'll have to pay for it.
Though it would be better if your father took you to your grandmother,
seeing as your mother left you.
She didn't yet...
Where are you going now?
Make some firewood first, if you want to eat.
- Is Jake home? - He just ran off.
- Where to? - To the school, I guess. After his mother.
Mother...
I must have a word with you, Jaakko.
I'm leaving for Germany with Uncle Fritz.
Where will I go?
You can live with your grandmother until I come and take you to Germany.
Jaakko darling, this is no reason to cry.
Don't cry, dear Jaakko. Please don't cry.
Why boohoo? Nicht gut.
I give you what you want.
Don't cry, Jaakko.
Jaakko. You'll get to Germany when peace comes.
There everything will be better.
Jaakko, stop crying!
Must laugh.
Little Jaakko, why don't you laugh, too.
It's not fit for a man to cry.
Look at Uncle Fritz laugh.
He is a man, a hero.
Why are you crying here?
What are you shouting for?
For my mother.
Your mother again...
There's a whole trainload of mothers at the railway station.
Leaving for Dreamland.
At the station?
Leaving their kids behind.
Jake!
- Don't go, Jake. - We've got exciting news.
- The war is over. - Yeah, they've made peace.
Mother, mother!
Subtitles by Karmi for KG. Revised by Veikko in 2020.
English lyrics to "Suvivirsi" by Zenos E. Hawkinson