Reviews

I assume this one was a significant breakthrough for the Finnish cinematography and probably one of the first ones that created a base that later developed into dozens of films about life that are nowadays called "European Art-house". It's very interesting to think about how movies like that could affect society at that time-late 70's, early 80's...first of all, the excitement is to watch it from the historical point of view. So, not to speak about the plot itself again, I'd like to focus on thoughts that seemed the most interesting to me after I watched this one. The characters may seem very typical and director's look at the problem is probably too naive for modern audience. We've got "bad guy"-character from Pink Floyd's The Wall actually, a good guy who tries to save teenagers' lives and the bunch of kids whose lives are going from nowhere to nowhere. This film could be called icon for punk generation and if I was 15 now, it would be my favorite movie probably. But another association that stops me from talking about "lost generation" is that teenagers in the movie remind me too much of "Clockwork Orange" that contains one of the most repulsive stories in the history of cinema/modern literature. In the end it leaves me with the same feeling that the story of Burgess gives-both of the sides are wrong. The society machine that stands against freedom and rock music is terrifying but still the opposite side also doesn't bring any positive feelings. Self-destruction, crimes and total lack of morale isn't something you'd like your kid to have. Still it leads to the idea that parents and society are guilty, and they sure do, but not necessarily it always affects the victims of that attitude so harsh. They can stay human anyway. What I'm trying to say is that the film shows some positive sides of teenage characters but still I don't feel sorry for them. Well, anyway it doesn't cancel the fact that the problem of generations is eternal and we have to think and talk about it. Especially it was necessary in revolutionary times like 70's. So I was pretty happy to watch this movie that may not be very shocking and doesn't open many new horizons for the modern viewer but gives themes for thoughts and discussion.