Rent Finland 1944 (2015)

Falling short of the target - Finland 1944 review by LR

Finland 1944 (also known as The Midwife) sometimes succeeds in conveying the brutal chaos of WW2 and the arbitrariness of death in such conditions, but at other times the film fails because characters fail to convince. Most unfortunately, the central character, the Midwife of the title, is one of the unconvincing aspects of the film. She looks more like a 60s hippy than a hardened survivor of WW2. In many of the scenes in the Nazi camp she is able to come and go without question, which makes an escape child's play. Also unconvincing is the romance between the midwife and the German soldier with the stylish haircut.

Possibly someone who is more prepared to be indulgent than I am would get more out of the film. There is an element of the subjective involved in judging aspects of the film 'unconvincing'. But I know that I am not alone in that response. I also know that the film has been hugely popular in Finland, which is hardly surprising since few films have dealt with WW2 in that area. Two and a half stars.