Based on Heikki Turunen' novel which was published in 1976, Pölönen's movie is a great voyage to a Finnish rural community, a village called Jerusalem situated in Northern Karelia. Maybe the English name (The Last Wedding) gives a more appropriate picture of how the people in the movie feel when the community is dying in front of the new, urban waves (the real translate would be "The Village of the Man Who Rolls a Rock" or something like that).
The subject was very topical at the time when the book was released. Young people started to abandon the countryside in Finland. Some moved to Sweden, like the main character of the film, Pekka (Martti Suosalo). He, his wife Meeri, and their daughter Jaana arrive for the last wedding that the village is to celebrate. Pekka is willful to stay in Jerusalem, but Meeri is adapted perfectly in Swedish, urban life.
There are lots of fine characters in the movie. There is this old local storyteller Eljas (marvellous Matti Varjo), who describes the people how earlier the village was full of life. Tuomo, the village idiot, is always rolling his big rock along the local paths. Pekka's old friends start to drink heavily (the traditional way of celebrating a wedding in Finland!) and Pekka takes some booze too. Pölönen has some actors that he uses very often in his films, like Pertti Koivula and Esko Nikkari, who now are two local villagers.
The film is about the fate that people can't change. The summer unites all the people once together in middle of the nature, but everybody knows that things will change. Although this sounds sad, the film is one of the funniest this country can offer, despite I can't imagine how foreign people understand it.
It's a shame there's no DVD release with English subs. Or at least I haven't heard about it.
The subject was very topical at the time when the book was released. Young people started to abandon the countryside in Finland. Some moved to Sweden, like the main character of the film, Pekka (Martti Suosalo). He, his wife Meeri, and their daughter Jaana arrive for the last wedding that the village is to celebrate. Pekka is willful to stay in Jerusalem, but Meeri is adapted perfectly in Swedish, urban life.
There are lots of fine characters in the movie. There is this old local storyteller Eljas (marvellous Matti Varjo), who describes the people how earlier the village was full of life. Tuomo, the village idiot, is always rolling his big rock along the local paths. Pekka's old friends start to drink heavily (the traditional way of celebrating a wedding in Finland!) and Pekka takes some booze too. Pölönen has some actors that he uses very often in his films, like Pertti Koivula and Esko Nikkari, who now are two local villagers.
The film is about the fate that people can't change. The summer unites all the people once together in middle of the nature, but everybody knows that things will change. Although this sounds sad, the film is one of the funniest this country can offer, despite I can't imagine how foreign people understand it.
It's a shame there's no DVD release with English subs. Or at least I haven't heard about it.