Miniature Gaming Hobby
Product Review Series

Winter War (movie)

Reviewed by Eric Burgess

I know there are a lot of WWII gamers out there (and people who like good war movies no matter what the period), so I thought I'd share with you a review of the WINTER WAR movie.

We watched particularly violent WWII movie this week, called WINTER WAR. It is a Finnish film with English subtitles. It documents the fighting of the Finns 23rd Infantry Regiment vs the Russians in 1940. Great film! They even had some T-26 tanks in it. Great variety of weapons, uniforms, and head gear for the Finns, while the Russians were wearing their onion hats (I can't remember the Russian name for them). There was about 15 - 20 minutes of pre-battle plot and then the rest of the movie was non-stop fighting. Waves of Russians attacking dug-in Finns. The Russian airforce is even in the film and it looks like they are using vintage planes and not models. The Finns use Molitov cocktails to take out Soviet tanks. Talk about guts! The Russian artillery barrages are INTENSE! There is one scene in the movie that reminds me of a scene from Zulu. You'll know it when you see it.

BEST LINE: Young male Finn tells this village girl that he is leaving for the front tomorrow. She immediately starts to undress, the camera pans to her naked silhouette on the wall with the young male Finn standing there with his mouth gaping. He manages to stutter, "My legs are going numb". We all howled at this.

This movie is brutal, funny, sad, and historically accurate. Makes you want to start a new period of gaming! POA has the decks for the Finns, but I'd make some severe restrictions on Russian tactics/formations and troop/commander qualities. Of course, you will need to have the Russian penal battalions that were forced to walk holding hands through the Finns mine fields so that the good Russian troops wouldn't get killed by the mines.

I've only seen the movie available through the company that is always at Historicon selling movies. I talked to the owner and he said he bought the rights to the movie and had it translated to English by Finnish Flight Attendants! Anyway, I highly recommend the film even if you are never planning on doing the Finnish vs Russian war.

-ed note, Winter War and numerous other titles are available from Belle & Blade video, Steve Mormando, 124 Penn Ave. Dover, NJ 07801 or phone (201) 328-8488.

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