Petteri Reviews

The Great Silence (1968)

An exceptional and striking western one could never have done in Hollywood

[7 February 2001]

This is among the very few films that make you truly disgusted by its violence; not because of the amount of blood as in many other films but because the victims of the bounty hunters are human beings, slaughtered brutally in front of their own family members. Corbucci has disguised this film as a piece of popular cinema, but gives us shocks once in a while, and finally surprises us completely in the unexpected end. This is how he makes his anti-violent message very clear, and it is easy to agree with him.

IL GRANDE SILENZIO is more pessimistic but also more human than any western by Leone or Peckinpah. It may not be a pleasant experience, but if you want to see a masterpiece of cinema instead of a traditional western, it is definitely worth waiting in line for.

The Spring River Flows East (1947)

An unforgettable masterpiece of melodrama!

[10/10 · 28 June 2000]

"Yi jang chun shui xiang dong liu" was a great commercial success of its' time. After watching it, it is easy to understand why: it is simply so easy to love (and hate) the main characters, who are wonderfully played by Yang Bai and Tao Jin. Melodramas as strong as this are usually pretty ridiculous, but not when the characters are like members of your own family.

In the beginning we have a happy family who works in a factory in Shanghai of the 30's. When the Japanese attack, the husband leaves her wife, mother and son behind to fight against the cruel invaders. For eight years they are separated. In that time, the waiting wife has to face all kinds of horrors of the war and poverty, while husband marries another woman (a rich one) in another city. He becomes a bourgeois who lives a sweet life far away from war. So, the film deals with the subject that has always been so popular among the left-winged film makers: the comparison between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. It has the same message as "Die Freundlosse Gasse" and "Konets Sankt-Peterburga", etc., but it has a far more elegant way of telling it.

The mother has too many self-pitying lines and the music becomes very irritating at times. These are about all faults there is. That is a excellent effort for a three-hour-long feature. I wonder if we Europeans have ever managed to make as powerful melodrama as this.

Highly recommended to those who still believe in great emotions. Others beware.

Dynamiittityttö (1944)

Poor actors can't ruin the film with a great actress and a direction of good quality.

[10/10 · 25 October 1999]

Valentin Vaala was perhaps the only one in Finland on the golden age of our cinema who was talented enough to direct successful Hollywood-like comedies. He made this one in 1944 and I think it is one of his best. The screenplay by "Tet" is hilarious and Lea Joutseno gives a wonderful performance as a daughter of a millionaire who accidently takes part in a robbery. Though film has a lot of poor actors and an unsatisfying final scene I enjoyed it very much and I will give it 10 points.