Kahdeksan Surmanluotia (1972)

	Also Known As: Eight deadly shots, Acht tödliche Schüsse
	Year of first release: 1972
	Director: Mikko Niskanen
	Actors: Mikko Niskanen, Tarja-Tuulikki Tarsala, Paavo Pentikäinen (Reiska)
	Country: FIN
	Genre: Melodrama, Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 30.10.2014, CineStar4, NFDL2014, OV Finnish with English subtitles
Synopsis: In the winter of 1969, Tauno Pasanen shot four policemen in a small Finnish village. This real event was the rationale for Mikko Niskanen’s work on an epic about the difficult lives of simple people in the countryside. At the beginning of Niskanen’s version, shots are fired by the farmer Pasi (Niskanen). The rest of the four episodes show in flashbacks what led up to this bloody deed. Niskanen doesn’t judge his protagonists, but rather portrays their situation in detail. Taxes and land reforms threaten the farmer’s existence so that he can no longer pay his bills, seeking refuge in the alcohol that will destroy his family life.
Review: The movie is not supposed to be really a documentary. But the way it is shot is so real. The real daily life on the countryside. That I claim the movie as a documentary. Pasi has a small farm with four cows, one old horse and a bit of land. With his best friend Reiska (Pentikäinen) and some others he used to make vodka in the fields or the woods while they are working. This brings difficulties with the police everytime he gets drunk in public, especially because home-made alcohol is prohibited in Finland. His wife Vaimo (Tarsala) does not support him that much because she is afraid of his violence when he is drunk and has four children to deal with. The difficulties of small farmers compared to large farms is well known everywhere now in the news, especially since the European policy supports more the large ones. This brings difficulties to Pasi with the tax administration that is forcing him to sell his horse. An initial version of the film ran twelve hours; this version, the remaining 300 minutes are considered by Aki Kaurismäki to be the best Finnish films of all time.
Rating: 7 /10