Ordinary war

A famous cover of "The Unknown Soldier"

VäinöLinna's “The Unknown Soldier” is a Finnish classic. Many quotes from those soldiers have become common phrases in Finnish and our national broadcasting network, YLE, shows every Independent Day a same film, Edvin Laine's black-and-white version about the novel. 

Once “The Unknown Soldier” raised a furor: it was something new and provocative. It bring up many taboos of Finnish culture. Their part of the jeering get Russians, officers and members of the women's auxilitiry service as well as patriotic fervor and the war itself.

“The Unknown Soldier” follows the story of a machine gun company's third platoon. The storyline follows a course of Finnish Continuation War against Russia 1941-1944. Story and characters based on mainly real happenings, war stories and people. Platoon reminds much Linna's own platoon, where he served in Continuation War.

Characters are a colourful punch of people: there is a ladies' man, a coward, a psychopath, a miser, a communist, a bully... “The Unknown Soldier” isn't a portrait about Continuation War, primarily it is a portrait about ordinary people in war. All characters are human: they make mistakes and some questionable things, but they're also loyal and encouraging for one another. They rebel against officers, grumble about almost everything, swear, drink etc.

Rahikainen, Lehto ja Määttä in Edvin Laine's fi

“The Unknown Soldier” is a powerful and impressive tale. Despite of its topic and historical aspect, it has definitely something to give for a modern reader. It's not groundlessly maybe the most important Finnish novel. Different dialects make the novel first hard to read, but soon you use to them and they help you to identify characters. I can warmly recommend it to everyone.

Mark: 9+