Action scenes for U.S. documentary on Winter War filmed in South-Eastern Finland

Russian military enthusiasts take roles in both armies

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By Santeri Eriksson in Miehikkälä
     
      "...And... ACTION!" rings out at the open-air Salpa-Line Museum in Miehikkälä, in the south-eastern corner of Finland. A machine-gun chatters into life.
      Finnish soldiers in their white winter gear fire rifle-volleys from their trench positions.
      Out on the snowy battlefield in front of them, special-effects bombs go off to simulate artillery and grenades and mow down the furiously advancing human wave of Red Army soldiers, as the camera takes it all in.
      Behind the bangs and the smoke is an American film crew, who are making a documentary on the Winter War in Finland.
     
"We intend to tell the story of this forgotten war, which is completely unknown to the great majority of the American population. A good many Americans know only of Finland's part in the Second World War as an ally of Nazi Germany. We want to correct this image."
      "Finland fought bravely against an overwhelming enemy and managed to preserve her independence", says director and producer Ben Strout. Strout's documentary team has been going around Finland meeting war veterans and has been completely wowed by the response.
      Ben Strout speaks of one 90-year-old veteran who had waited for several hours for the arrival of the documentary makers, dressed in his uniform and with his medals on his chest, from 7.am. in the morning.
     
The filming of the actual battle scenes began on Saturday in Miehikkälä, and they continued in Parola, near Hämeenlinna, on Sunday.
      Strout says he got the idea for the film from American-Finnish friends in his home state of Indiana. Emigré Finnish-American groups also found the funding for the project.
      The Salpa-Line ["salpa" is Finnish for "bolt", as in bolting a door] is serving the role of the Mannerheim Line, the Finnish defensive positions some way to the east that were used 65 years ago. In fact the Salpa-Line was dug and fortified after the Winter War and never saw military action, though its very existence influenced the Soviet decision to stop advancing in the latter stages of the Continuation War of 1941-1944 when they had reached the Finnish border.
     
The filmmakers would have liked to shoot their battle scenes at the authentic Winter War sites, which are now across the border in Russian Karelia, on the Karelian Isthmus.
      "However, it proved a good deal easier to bring 50 Russian actors to Finland than to take an American film crew to Russia", says cinematographer Michael Bowie.
     
Busloads of Russian re-enactment enthusiasts have arrived at the Salpa-Line Museum, bringing with them their own painstakingly-collected period WWII uniforms from both sides in the conflict.
      The sounds of Russian being spoken wafts across from the Finnish trenches. Yes, the Finnish soldiers in their winter whites are speaking Russian.
      "We're here in the service of Marski [Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim, commander of the Finnish forces and later President of Finland]", says Vladimir Chekunov, and his cap insignia bears this out. Chekunov is the chairman of a St. Petersburg military re-enactment society known as North Front, which as been hired to act in the movie.
      Normally these enthusiasts arrange displays on old Winter War battlegrounds at their own expense. "We are a ‘Finnish' club and we act as Finnish soldiers. For this filming session we will serve like soldiers. Normally we are a bit more like the old Civil Guard", explains Chekunov.
     
It is not exactly a cheap hobby, re-enacting past wars. All the club members gather their own equipment themselves, out of their own pockets.
      "I've spent around EUR 1,200 for the military gear I am wearing and carrying. Just the helmet alone cost me 200 euros", says Chekunov.
     
And it is not only the Americans for whom the 1939-40 conflict is a blank area. "This film can tell the Russians about the unknown Winter War", commented Leonid Gurbatov, a student at the St. Petersburg University of Technology.
      "What we are dealing with here is not the politics at state level, but brave Finnish and Russian soldiers. This war was cold and brutal; it was sheer hell for those taking part. This documentary is very important for both the Russians and the Finns. Thanks to an American team", says Ruslan Tichomirov, clad in his Red Army uniform.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 20.2.2005

More on this subject:
 BACKGROUND: A producer with two Emmy Awards

Links:
  Fire and Ice, a documentary about the Winter War of 1939-40 (from a Russian re-enactment society site)
  The Salpa-Line Museum
  MastersWork Media: Fire and Ice
  North Front Re-enactment Club, St. Petersburg
  The Battles of the Winter War - a site maintained by a Finnish enthusiast. Many useful links.

Helsingin Sanomat