Paha maa

Syyttömänä syntymään sattui hän
tähän maahan pohjoiseen ja kylmään.
Innocent was he born
in this country north and cold

A Finnish-English dictionary defines the word "ahdistus" as "agony, anguish, anxiety, difficulty in breathing, oppression, torment, tribulation, vexation". I don't think if any of these describe accurately the feelings I got after seeing Paha maa (lit. "Evil land"). I don't even know if the English language has proper words for the desperate anguish that is so ingrained in the Finnish culture.

It's kinda the Finnish version of "Paying it Forward", except this time it's the evil deeds that travel. And boy, does it hurt.

Good film. But don't expect to be in a good mood afterwards. There were some laughs at first, and especially someone who laughed really loud and lot, obviously mistaking the movie for a comedy, but even he shut up really fast after one particular scene. For the rest of the movie, the entire theatre was completely quiet, grabbed and shaken by the desperation oozing from the screen.

It's... I find it hard to think of the film.

But it still had a message of hope. I don't know what to think of it either.




Comments

Try Closer as well. It leaves you hating at least all the characters, if not humankind itself (but let me say, it's an extremely good play/film). When I saw it, some of the audience eventually cracked and started laughing due to extreme horrible tenseness.

Better still, the adverts make it look like a date movie.

--ChrisH, 20-Feb-2005


Paha maa oli ensimmäinen elokuva (no, ehkä Titanicin ja teinivuosien jälkeen), jota katsoessa takaa teatterista kuului itkua. Ahdisti kovin kyllä, kuten Closerkin.

http://surullisia.blogspot.com

--Mari, 20-Feb-2005


Paha Maa is well, not the kinda film where you end up hating everybody. I guess the topmost feeling is really pity. These people aren't really bad, they're just... driven to desperation by other people, who in turn are not really bad, just victims of the circumstances.

--JanneJalkanen, 20-Feb-2005


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