Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding Film, Atrocious DVD
Review: "The Winter War" is a truly first-rate war film, one of my all time favorites. The battle scenes are incredibly gritty and realistic, surpassing most of what Hollywood has to offer.
The DVD itself, however, is atrocious. The picture quality is appalling, looking as if it was recorded from a television screen using a camcorder. Furthermore, the ridiculously oversized subtitles cannot be turned off, and many scenes have been unnecessarily deleted from the film.
Avoid this DVD at all costs and seek out an imported copy. The poor quality of this Region 1 release does not warrant the hefty price tag placed upon it.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Film about a Defining Moment in Finnish History
Review: "Winter War" (Talvisota in Finnish)is the story of the 1939-40 Russo-Finnish War seen through the eyes of a reserve infantry unit. We see them leaving their farms on mobilization, to assembly at the border, and follow them into battle until the armistice some 110 days later. To most Americans who know anything about it, the Winter War is visions of Sissi skiing rings around Russians. True that did happen, but the majority of Finnish units operated conventionally either in the Mannerheim Line or to the North/North East of it. This is what this film describes. The battle scenes are as authentic as any in Saving Private Ryan; if memory serves the "Soviet" Forces are Russian extras. Vehicles, weapons, uniforms are all entirely accurate. It's probably fair to consider this movie as Finland's SPR. Whereas some have criticized SPR for it's somewhat contrived plot, this movie has none of that; simply citizen soldiers called to save their nation. We watch as more and more of their friends are killed and wounded, in relentless Red Army assaults. This sense of loss is brought home again simply, but elegantly, in the scenes with the "home front". The final anticlimatic news of the armistice on the troops is depressing to see, but again entirely accurate. This film is a fitting tribute to the Finnish "Greatest Generation" who also did nothing less than save their nation- twice in 5 years from Soviet enslavement.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Film about a Defining Moment in Finnish History
Review: "Winter War" (Talvisota in Finnish)is the story of the 1939-40 Russo-Finnish War seen through the eyes of a reserve infantry unit. We see them leaving their farms on mobilization, to assembly at the border, and follow them into battle until the armistice some 110 days later. To most Americans who know anything about it, the Winter War is visions of Sissi skiing rings around Russians. True that did happen, but the majority of Finnish units operated conventionally either in the Mannerheim Line or to the North/North East of it. This is what this film describes. The battle scenes are as authentic as any in Saving Private Ryan; if memory serves the "Soviet" Forces are Russian extras. Vehicles, weapons, uniforms are all entirely accurate. It's probably fair to consider this movie as Finland's SPR. Whereas some have criticized SPR for it's somewhat contrived plot, this movie has none of that; simply citizen soldiers called to save their nation. We watch as more and more of their friends are killed and wounded, in relentless Red Army assaults. This sense of loss is brought home again simply, but elegantly, in the scenes with the "home front". The final anticlimatic news of the armistice on the troops is depressing to see, but again entirely accurate. This film is a fitting tribute to the Finnish "Greatest Generation" who also did nothing less than save their nation- twice in 5 years from Soviet enslavement.
Rating:
Summary: Better(?) than Saving Private Ryan!
Review: A confined section of front, a handful of reserve infantry reluctantly called to defend against the Red Army--true to life--as my family can tell. A 'non-Hollywood' look at war at its grimmest with no punches pulled. Live heroes are the ones who are lucky; the dead are merely the unlucky heroes.
Rating:
Summary: ACTION, ACTION AND MORE ACTION!
Review: as far as military movies go, the winter war is as good as it gets. the movie hardley misses a point. the action scenes are great and (imagine this) historically accurate! the combination really develops. the smallarms, vehicles, fighters and bombers were all loaned from a museum in russia and the tactics were re-inacted from the actual russo-finish war veterans on both sides. be right there in the trenches as you get strafed by fighters, shelled from artillery and fired at by snipers. you hardly want to look down to read the subtitles as you may miss the action (incidentially, there is a finnish-only version approximately 1 hour longer in length). 100% accurately depicted and well acted. highly recomended from a hard sell military buff.don't wait to buy it used, it's worth every cent brand new and if you liked it as much as i did, you'll wear it out anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Movie - Disatrous DVD
Review: As several other reviewers have noted, the quality on the DVD is rather bad. What is even more irritating in my opinion is that several scenes have been cut away. I saw the movie when it was originally released for cinema, and I remember it being almost 3 hour long. My memory is certainly clouded by time, but I distinctly remember one scene depicting a visit to a prostitue which is gone. At least one combat sequence is gone too, when they go on a mission behind enemy lines.The movie in itself is astonishingly good. Only "Das Boot" rivals it when it comes to war movies. Too bad the DVD is a mess.
Rating:
Summary: A truly magnificent war film !!
Review: During the war, I lived 6 miles from the village from which this regiment left for the front. Totally authentic! Watch especially for the 'good bye' scene at the railway station to get a sense of the undemonstrative Finnish mind-set. This movie is comparable in impact to Saving Private Ryan -- at 1/100th of the production cost. A real gem!
Rating:
Summary: The Winter War
Review: Finn power to the extreme. Nobody can defeat the Finns not even the Russian Juggernaut. One of the greatest Finnish movies of all time! This is a must buy! Do yourself a favor and buy this film! I love the Finnish spoken in the film! SISU! What the other reveiwers fail to mention is that this is a true story! The Russians started the war and the Finns ended it.
Jason Hepokoski
Rating:
Summary: great movie
Review: for all people who are for gun control should watch this movie,had the finnish not had the civilan guard the russians would have run right over them.to this day all people from the age of 18 to 52 must serve and keep weapons as i understand it.it's also a time in our history were we should hang our heads in shame because we stood by when they asked our help and we refused.a great movie for a courages country.my deepest respect to the finnish.i also recommend reading the book The Winter War
Rating: 
Summary: Great story but not quite a masterpiece.
Review: I bought this DVD after stumbling across the glowing reviews of the movie. I'm not Finnish but my wife is of Finnish descent so I thought it would make a nice addition to our DVD collection.
The DVD itself is pretty much barren of any extras. There are no trailers, no commentary, no different sound tracks...no anything but the movie itself and scene selections. The disc is only in Stereo, so if you're looking for Dolby Digital 5.1, you're out of luck with this release. Additionally, the film transfer is fairly grainy. Considering the movie only 13 years old, they could've done a better job.
On to to the movie itself - It's a classic example of a David and Goliath story. A handful of Finnish soldiers defend their country against a horde of tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands - they never really say) of Russian troops.
The disappointing thing about this movie is that the tacticts of how the Finnish defended against such incredible odds are never really shown. It was a simply a matter of holding position as long as possible against the advancing Russian soldiers. I would like to have seen more of what strategy was involved in holding off the Russians. Matter of fact, if I didn't know it was a true story I would have a hard time believing it. One thing to note, as others have noted - Talvisota is not for the squeamish. The depiction of what can happen to a human body during a war is, I would guess, fairly realistic and might even be a little disturbing to those with a weak stomach.
All-in-all, I give the movie 3 out of 5. It was good...but it wasn't great.
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