Customer Reviews

Ambush

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw this movie at the European Film Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The film is excellent and is hardly just another war film like Hamburger Hill, Platoon, etc. You will get caught up in the lives of the soldiers who travel on bicycles through the Finnish woodland experiencing events such as booby traps and ambushes. In addition, you'll appreciate the tender love story that's woven into the storyline. It's a relief to know this movie is coming to the United States in the DVD format ... it deserves to be seen!

It is amazing that tiny Finland, certainly one of the smaller participants in the Second World War, has released two major films in the 12 years about its role in that conflict. Pekka Parikka's 1990 film, The Winter War, depicted the tenacious defense of a Finnish infantry platoon in the 1939-1940 Russo-Finnish War. In a way, that film is a prequel to Olli Saarela's 2002 Ambush, which is set in the 1941 "Continuation War." Both films are based on novels by Antti Tuuri and both films follow small groups of Finnish soldiers engaged against the hated Russian foe. The Winter War was filmed with a bigger budget and more extras, but both films are similar in their perspectives. Overall, Ambush is an average war film, although the circumstances make it rather unique: it is the only film depicting the early months of the War in the East, albeit on one of its backwater fronts.

Ambush follows the typical war film conceit: the small unit drama. The unit in question is a 14-man bicycle "platoon" from the 2nd Finnish Light Infantry Regiment, 5th Division on the Karelian Front. The unit is commanded by young Lieutenant Eero Perkola (Peter Franzen) and the time period is July-August 1941. One of the major problems with this film, more noticeable than in the earlier Winter War, is the failure to address the "big picture." Unlike the Winter War, in Ambush the Finns are allied with Adolph Hitler's Germany - a key fact that is never mentioned. Furthermore, the strategic significance of the Finnish Karelian Front - to cut the rail lines to Murmansk - is also not mentioned. Had the Finnish offensive succeeded, much of the Anglo-American "Lend Lease" aid to the USSR would have been blocked. Without these important background facts, the military rationale depicted on film seems pretty flimsy - almost based merely on the whims of the moody lieutenant.

The characters in the platoon are the stock "grunt" types: the psycho with steel-rimmed glasses who likes to kill; the religious guy; the young, clumsy guy; the stolid corporal, etc. As usual, several characters are always arguing or threatening to kill each other (not too likely in a small unit behind enemy lines). The only unusual characters are a father and son serving in the same unit, which successfully illustrates the meaning of "total mobilization" for a tiny country. Of course, the other major character in the film is Lieutenant Perkola's fiancée, a female auxiliary, who is MIA early in the film. This lost-love emphasis drives the film over the edge into a heavily personalized view of the war, wherein LT Perkola is tormented by not knowing her fate. While this plot-device will make the film more interesting for civilian audiences, it tends to suck the life out of both the film and the main character. Indeed, Perkola has very little to say after the first 30 minutes into the film, and this is certainly not a case study in small unit leadership. As for the Russians, we see very little of them, except for brief skirmishes with a squad-size unit of Russian border guard remnants. Whereas The Winter War featured scenes with thousands of Russian infantry charging across the snow and massive artillery bombardments, Ambush depicts conflict on a very-low density front with a low budget.

The most unique aspects of Ambush focus on the dynamics of bicycle-mounted light infantry moving long distances through the birch forests and scattered lakes of the Karelian wilderness. Both the Finns and Soviets had only about one division in this 100-kilometer wide sector and there is a spooky quality of seeing troops moving through such an uninhabited area. Ostensibly, Perkola's platoon is assigned an area reconnaissance mission on the wide-open flanks of its parent division, which is advancing into Karelia. While the Finns were certainly required to use economy of force in these wide-open areas, the idea that 14 men, with no radio or heavy weapons, could screen the flank of a 15,000-man division is pretty absurd. Perkola keeps pushing his unit further and further into Karelia and in real life this tiny unit would have been annihilated. Amazingly, their Russian opponents never think to use sniping to pick-off Perkola's men and continually allow them to cross obstacles without interference. Indeed, the Russians are just plain stupid in this movie. In terms of cinematography, Perkola's troops move across some really beautiful scenery, unlike the drab trenches of The Winter War.

Essentially, this film is more a personalized look at war, love and loss, rather than a combat drama. Principally, the director seems to have little understanding of tactics, weapons and logistics. The idea that anyone would attempt to cross a defended bridge with bicycles is ridiculous, and this small unit seems to have little concept of security (lighting bonfires at night) or self-preservation. Director Saarela seems unaware just how much damage a machinegun can inflict upon the human body: one character is riddled by 6-10 rounds, and then we see him in the hospital later and he seems like he only has a sprained wrist. Saarela also seems unaware that automatic weapons need reloading (Perkola "fires" about 200 rounds without ever changing drums) or that light machine guns must change barrels after long bursts. Indeed, a small light infantry unit like this is unlikely to carry much in the way of supplies and the only resupply that they receive in the course of the film is an armload of bread. The final action, in which the remaining ten Finns attack into the rear of a dug-in Soviet infantry company, is just absurd. Despite the film's tactical problems, Ambush is still an interesting look at the Second World War from the Axis perspective.

As was stated above this is based on the true story of a group of Finnish soldiers during the 1941-44 fighting against the Soviet Union. I feel this movie is as good as the more famous "Winter War". While one can nit-pick on the weapons used in parts of the film I think this takes nothing from the overall production. This is one great film and a must see if this area of the world interests you.

This is a tale of love and war in Karelia during the Continuation War in 1941. The Finns have declared war on the Soviet Union to redress their losses in the Winter War 1.5 years earlier and are supporting the German invasion (Barbarossa). The story follows the travails of a Finnish recon platoon (a squad really, there are only 10 or so soldiers led by a lieutenant) as they gather information on enemy movements along the flank and ahead of their division's advance. This is also a love story, the platoon leader's fiance is an auxilliary supporting the Finnish troops near the front. Overall, this is a decent, not outstanding, love/war story. The story itself is a little thin, although I found it very interesting to see how a Finnish director would portray the events of the Continuation war. There is more atmosphere than action in this film, and the action, by modern standards, isn't particularly well done. The climactic battle at the end is a bit hokey in fact. The cinematography is generally great though, with some wonderful shots of the northern wilderness, and there is a real sense of paranoia throughout the film as the platoon travels through the woods. There could be a Soviet sniper or machine gun behind every tree. The romance storyline is well done, with a particularly ironic twist at the end. The Finns travel around on bicycles, a bit incongruous for modern audiences, but common in WWII nonetheless (moreso in the first several years of the war). This is a film that is definitely worth watching (as a rental) by anyone interested in WWII or Finland (and is a must see for any student of the Winter War or Continuation War, however), but at $17.99 a bit steep and probably not worth buying except for the most serious collector.

Though not the greatest war movie ever made, "Ambush" is an engaging and entertaining examination of a little studied aspect of WWII -- the conflict between Finland and the USSR. Set after the "Winter War" of 1939-1940 (in which the USSR invaded Finland, though at a tremendous price) "Ambush" tells the story of a young lieutenant and his bicycle company. More than an action film, "Ambush" focuses on the human side of the conflict. It does this effectively, but not as well as perhaps might have been done. In all fairness, this may be due to the language barrier. "Ambush" is subtitled, but I fear the subtitles may not adequately convey the emotions involved. Overall, a decent war movie that's definitely worth renting (if not buying [on sale or used]).

Don't want to write a review because it's a long time since I saw this movie (though I've seen it twice). But as a finn I want to point out some things about the war. Maybe this will help people outside Finland to understand finnish war movies better.

First of all remember this: Finland was NEVER allied with Germany. We actually fought against germans in the war so I wouldn't call that an alliance. We were put on the bad side because we fought against Soviet union and they were one of the "winners" of the second world war. Finland bought weapons from Germany because we knew there will be another war against Russia. No-one else sold us weapons because the US tried to stay out of the war and UK wanted to be friends with Russia so they wouldn't have to fight alone against Germany. Russia started the Winter war and Finland started the Continuation war(not sure about the english name). The second war was only to get back the areas that we lost in the first war but in the end we had to give them anyway. For every finn this war was justified because many people had to leave their homes when russians took parts of our country. It was considered finnish territory and we wanted it back.

Second point: we really used small groups of men behind enemy lines. They had two main jobs: recon and sabotage missions. These groups are quite famous in Finland, even one of our old presidents has been on these missions. He was lead by Lauri Törni (later Larry Thorne in US army) who John Wayne is acting in "Green berets". And these groups really didn't have much food or big weapons with them, they couldn't carry much. The idea about small groups is stranger to big countries but these groups were really effective and it's easier to move 5-10 men unnoticed than bigger group.

About the movie: I don't like war movies that put the love story ahead of the war. I would like to see a movie about these small finnish groups who went deep in to the enemy zone to destroy railway tracks and supply lines or to get information about enemy formations. As far as I remember this movie was quite ok but the non-war elements ruined it for me. I still enjoyed the movie and I can recommend it to most of the people reading this.

So far one of the best war movies I have seen is "Tuntematon sotilas", "The Unknown soldier". It's old and it has many annoying characters (everyone who has been in army know that this is just realism) but it's still better than most of the Hollywood's superhero-movies. If you want to see a movie about finnish wars in the WW2 then I'd suggest "the Unknown soldier" (if you can find it somewhere) and "Winter war". "Ambush" is the "Pearl harbor" of finnish war movies, but naturally it's way better than BH.

Amazing war film that takes place during world war 2. Better than almost all American War films of similiar note. The feelings are real, the stakes are real and as with any war there is never a true winner when people die.

AMBUSH(1999) Directed by Olli Saarela

Starring a bunch of Finns with interesting multisyllabilic last names.

The first year of Operation Barbarossa(June 22, 1941)....except for a few American films......has been generally ignored cinematically. Except for Germany, Japan and Italy, the rest of the Axis---Rumania, Bulgaria, Thailand, San Marino and Hungary----have been cinematically invisible..........except for Finland which has happily made several films about its history during the Second World War. While the big boy the 50s film THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER is unavailable in this country, this film---AMBUSH --gives a taste of what that film might be like and which I would dearly love to see.

In June, 1941, as the rest of the Axis overrun the Soviet Union, a squad of bicyle(!) riding Finnish soldiers scout ahead of their army looking for the retreating Reds. Eventually they find them.

While not great---the film is marred by a softcore porn sequence, an obsession with frontal male nudity(The lead cannot seem to keep his pants on) and a general---though characteristic European---dramatic flatline, this is still a fascinating movie showing a Front and a country involved in WW2 that has never ever been seen before in the West. Thus it fulfils my criteria for any new WW2 film in that it dramatizes something that has NOT been dramatized before.

Besides the unigue features of the Russo-Finnish Front of Barbarosa, it is also worthwhile seeing a WW2 film where the Reds are NOT the good guys(They were most assuredly not in any case) and that not everyone in the Axis were necessarily wrong. The Finns were invaded by Communist Russia in 1939 as part of the Communist/Nazi alliance. They recieved no assistance from the West. They lost large amounts of territory. Barbarossa was their chance to reclaim lost Finnish land. Trapped between National Socialist Germany and Communist Russia, Finland was in a bad place. I do not believe the US ever bombed Finland or attacked the country in anyway though it was certainly vulnerable to Allied Air attack. This may have been to the realization that Finland was a special case among the Axis powers.

An above average original World War 2 film well worth a look.

I do wish Europeans would get over their obsession with binkies and graphic sex though. It tends to undercut their more serious films as it does here.

I also wish someone would make movies about the OTHER members of the Axis powers. I would love to see a film about the Bulgarian hordes overrunning someplace!!

Great attention has gone into detail such as costumes and scenes, the uniforms are a bad general fit as you sea in the history books and very unlike later day Hollywood that specially taliors the uniforms to make their stars look better. Nor is this a constant action movie, you get to follow a patrol that is constantly waiting to get attacked, sees the enemy around every corner without making contact. It has its horrible moments as well.

As I have never been a soldier or taken part in any conflict I am not a qualified judge, but something about this film simply feels right and it confirms with most history books on the subject.

I liked it immensely.

The film itself rates 5 stars.

There is a downside however and that is the sloopy transfer to DVD this movie is, picture quality is poor and subtitles (in English) are fixed to the movie itself, not really subtitles but part of the film which looks to have been ripped of from a video tape so there is nothing in the way of DVD quality.

AMBUSH is a very powerfully moving film! The actors are 5 star and the director as well as the photography. It is indeed a similar amazing film as "Enemy At The Gates"! With my Finnish Heritage I was truly impressed as I am related to Carl Gustoff Mannerheim and have always wanted to see the details of how and why the Finnish wars were fought!! A must buy romantic war epic!