Tears of April (2008)

I came to this movie fairly ignorant of its historical basis. I approached "Kasky"as a (half)-Finnish-American wanting to add a few Finnish movies to my collection and perhaps learn something of my thousands-of-miles-distant heritage. ("Talvisota" and "The Unknown Soldier," both excellent and accurate war films, were obtained in the same mail package.) While "Kasky" ("Order") can't be described as historically accurate, it is very effective as a film about war crimes, the human struggle, order (of course) and chaos.Another reviewer called most of the movie "soft porn," and I have to respectfully disagree: there is quite a bit of sex in this movie, but the sex is a meant to be a tool used to break down or dominate people, not as titillation. It is rare for a movie that has two of its main characters raped during its running time to maintain any semblance of dignity, but "Kasky" manages it.The acting is wonderfully naturalistic and the production is above my criticism. (The Finnish countryside is gorgeous, so I understand the director's desire to linger occasionally...) Even the child actors are great. "Kasky" may not be the most brilliant movie in the world (or even the most brilliant Finnish movie), but the fact that it creates order out of chaos and hope out of torture makes it piercing, sad and even a little profound. "Kasky" may be revised history, but it hasn't been Hollywoodized at all. Recommended for all but children, Puritans and the faint of heart.

The premise (see other reviews) could be set in any civil war situation and as such could be made into a workable movie. This film, however, has a few problems. For the domestic Finnish audience the film is frustrating because of the many historical inaccuracies, which, 90 years after the civil war, still make many people angry. For an international audience, the film has problems on other levels. It often feels unnecessary slow-paced and drawn-out. Sometimes you had the feeling the director was so in love with some of the shots that he could not let them go on the cutting floor despite ruining the pacing of the movie. The nude an homosexual themes also feel "mandatory" - I almost wanted to shout out "not again!" during the press showing. The film is competently photographed and scored, and has a professional feel. Mr Louhimies also presented himself as a nice and affable man during the press showing, and I wish everything good to him. He will be a great director. This film, however, won't be remembered as his best.

Well most of this movie is soft porn. In fact the name of the film should be Levottomat 7 or something similar, this is the same stuff again but now in some historically motivated context. Unfortunately the actors in main roles had read their history lessons much better than the script writer or anyone in the production team.The movie represents a white side soldier who, despite being clearly a Nazi, suddenly starts to feel pity when the evil whites shoot at unarmed and barely dressed ladies. He decides to save the one good looking one. It is a factual mistake that the man is given a rank of Private, despite being a Jaeger trained in Germany. Absolutely none of the Jaegers in the Civil War served as mere Privates, even the ones with bad physical condition were promoted to at least to the rank of Corporal.Another thing that I quite wondered was the Judge's Russian wife, who wasn't familiar with German language at all even if she could play Beethoven numbers by request. The academical Russians of the early 20th century knew German rather well. The same wife character could be a bark at the modern custom of having a Russian wife, whom the writer presents as a rather lustful Lady.Nothing new really in this one, except that it's the least story conveying good vs bad juxtaposition for a while.

Taking place in the Finlands civil war, "whites vs reds", a woman soldier of reds is captured by the whites. She is ordered to be executed, but saved by an idealistic soldier. Together they begin a journey to face the field court, which becomes the main stage for the drama.All the acting is done with care. Main characters played by Vauramo and Viitala are easy to relate to. Eero Aho is also quite impressive in the role of judge Hallenberg, a talented writer whose ideology is ruined by the war. Judge Hallenberg is easy to see as the most interesting character in the movie, its up to viewer to decide if hes good or bad. Also a side role of sergeant-major played by Mikko Kouki is worth mentioning for. He seems to be just the right person to play this character representing absolute moral decay of war.As Im not the biggest fan of finnish movies I was not expecting much but Käsky (translation:order) really impressed me. Director Aku Louhimiehi is one of the top directors in finnish movie and I'd say Käsky might really be his best work. The overall mood in the movie is a bit tense, usually dramatic piano and string music playing. Great filming and good nature shots make it exceptionally beautiful. The script has just the right twist to keep the viewer entertained. I really enjoyed Käsky for the philosophical side of it, thought some of the viewers might find this movie too shocking.9/10