Kiehumispiste (2017)

	Also Known As: Boiling point, Siedepunkt
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Elina Hirvonen
	Actors: -
	Country: FIN
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 02.11.2017, CineStar6, NFDL2017, Finnish/English/Arabic with English subtitle
Synopsis: “Close the borders!” demonstrators on one side yell, while the other side shouts “open the borders!”; the police stand between the two groups. The mood is tense in Finland – the flood of refugees, combined with cuts to social welfare programmes has pitted people against each other. While right-wing groups take to the streets to protest against immigration, the “good people” demonstrate against racism. What are the roots of the country’s mood. The search took to racist rallies, soup kitchens, the local pub, and refugee centres. And many demonstrations.
Review: The docu starts from a discussion between two old sauna friends (Oula and Tapsa) split by their political view on the current migration flow. Because they are friends, they can talk about their impressions. As in many European countries, the public media report only on the division of the people and violent demonstrations. The rest of the docu is balanced. It does not point the finger to any group but let both sides talk. Not the violent people but the active people who are nevertheless ready to talk openly about their view. This allows to have a respectful debate on the real problems and not to remain superficial. I believe that people voting for AFD or FN have to be heard, as well as people voting for the extreme left wing. They have worries, like any other citizen and deserve the same respect. And this is the opposite method wrt French media with the Front National and wrt German media with the Alternative für Deutschland. And we have seen in the last 10 to 30 years how these media have neutralised the political debate into a polarised dialogue of the deaf. Private screenings could be organised for free in Finland with the authors for discussion. This was the aim of this film project. All the screenings are listed in Finnish on the official website.  The honesty and the quiet temper during the shooting of all the interviewed persons is great and is the kind of thing that can be reached only in Scandinavia. The worries explained by all parties are actually a call to politicians asking "Listen! You are no more listening to me!". The images in the sauna have been particularly tricky as explained by the director of cinematography Jarkko Virtanen present for the Q&A after the screening in Lübeck. "It was a dry sauna. We had to make breaks because the hands became too hot and the camera as well. " Also the interviews of members of both parties at the same time is amazing and has been shot spontaneously as the people were anyway talking together.
Rating: 7 /10