Friends, Comrades


Friends, Comrades is a 1990 Finnish drama film directed by Rauni Mollberg. It is a brutal story of greed and power, taking place in Petsamo during World War II, and the main character is a nickel factory worker named Arno Jurmala, who always humiliates the side that is winning the war, first the Nazis, then the Red Army.
The film was shot in nine episodes between June 1989 and May 1990, in a total of about 90 shooting days. The majority of the filming took place in the autumn, and a significant part of it was spent in Norway, when a suitable mining village was found in Kirkenes and a log cabin in Hauksjøen for the exterior shots of the Jurmala house. In Finland, the main filming took place in Vesilahti at Mollberg's home studio, where the interior shots of the Jurmala Manor were staged. In the Soviet Union, a monastery and polluted nature were filmed. The film is spoken in five different languages: Finnish, English, Swedish, German and Russian.
Upon its completion, Friends, Comrades was the List of [most expensive Finnish films|most expensive Finnish film] at time, with a budget of 18.5 million marks. However, it was met with mixed reviews and it had fewer viewers than Mollberg's previous films. The number of viewers in theaters was 38,567. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

Cast