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Eight Deadly Shots

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Eight Deadly Shots
Original Finnish poster.
FinnishKahdeksan surmanluotia
Directed byMikko Niskanen[2]
Written byMikko Niskanen[2]
Produced byMikko Niskanen[2]
StarringMikko Niskanen[2]
Distributed byYleisradio
Release dates
29 March – 5 April 1972 (miniseries)[1]
1972 (film)[2]
Running time
316 minutes (miniseries)[3]
145 minutes (film)[2]
CountryFinland
LanguageFinnish

Eight Deadly Shots[2] or Eight Fatal Shots[4] (Finnish: Kahdeksan surmanluotia) is a Finnish drama film directed, written, produced by and starring Mikko Niskanen.[2] Originally released as a four-part, five-hour miniseries in spring 1972,[3] it was edited into a 145-minute movie by Jörn Donner.[2][5]

The film was inspired by a 7 March 1969 mass shooting incident in Pihtipudas, Finland, in which a smallfarmer shot and killed four armed policemen who had come to calm him down after he drove his family out of the house in a drunken rage. The film focuses on depicting a fictionalised chain of events leading up to the killings, as imagined by director Niskanen. The main character's name was changed.

Both professional and amateur actors were used. Issues with the schedule and budget led executives at Yleisradio to seriously consider calling off the production, but this was averted.[6]

In 2018, the film was selected as part of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project with the aim of reaching international distribution as a restored 35 mm screening copy and a digital 4K copy.[7]

Plot

A Central Finnish smallfarmer, Pasi, tries to work odd jobs to provide for his family under meager conditions, but also starts moonshining with his friend Reiska and lapses into alcoholism. Pasi's wife is forced to endure and fear his drunken violence, and he repeatedly needs to be calmed by police.[2]

Pasi's wife argues with him about his drinking, he is bothered by recurring physical pains and hangovers, and he develops a bad temper which starts to frighten his wife and children. His family is also humiliated as he gets into a fight, skips a sermon which he disrupts by shooting a gun outside, and is confronted by police who start visiting his home frequently. The film ends with a final outburst in which Pasi scares his family away and shoots after them with a rifle. When police arrive, Pasi shoots the officers dead, goes over to his neighbors' house and tells them to call the police chief. He is sentenced to life in prison.

Cast

[4]

  • Mikko Niskanen as Pasi
  • Tarja-Tuulikki Tarsala as Pasi's wife
  • Paavo Pentikäinen as Reiska
  • Tauno Paananen as Tanu
  • Elina Liimatainen as Ellu
  • Ari Vainiontaus as Ari
  • Mauno Argillander as Manu
  • Sulo Hokkanen as Sulo Kokki
  • Ilmari Piilonen as gamekeeper
  • Yrjö Liehunen as shopkeeper
  • Kalle Kellokangas as Kalle
  • Olavi Tervahartiala as Taisto Kokki
  • Kaarlo Wilska as preacher
  • Harri Väreluoto as police chief
  • Sakari Niskanen as policeman #1
  • Sulo Olkkonen as policeman #2
  • Jorma Lindfors as policeman #3
  • Toivo Kähkönen as policeman #4
  • Matti Nurminen as policeman #5
  • Esko Nikkari as policeman #6
  • Helinä Tevi as wife's sister
  • Kari Franck as speaker from Helsinki
  • Pertti Weckström as doctor
  • Riku Rinkama as judge

Reception

Eight Deadly Shots has often been considered one of the most esteemed Finnish movies. It was tied for "best Finnish movie" in a polling of film critics in 1992;[8] in 2012, critics voted it the fifth-best Finnish movie.[9] Aki Kaurismäki described the longer, miniseries version as "one of the masterpieces of European cinema".[3]

Tauno Pasanen [fi], the man who committed the real-life killings the film was based on, saw the movie in prison and commented on it: "This is so true that it makes me laugh and cry at times. That is how life was back there. My fate in life was so accurately portrayed that it is like ripped from my soul."[10]

References

  1. ^ "Episode List". IMDb.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Kahdeksan surmanluotia". Elonet.
  3. ^ a b c "Kahdeksan surmanluotia täytyisi pelastaa yleisölle". Helsingin Sanomat. (subscription required)
  4. ^ a b "Kahdeksan surmanluotia". IMDb.
  5. ^ "Surmanluodit viuhuvat tänään Bio Rexissä". Helsingin Sanomat. (subscription required)
  6. ^ Lappalainen, Marja-Liisa: "Ei mikään cowboy-tarina". Ilta-Sanomat, 28.2.2009, p. 21.
  7. ^ "Mikko Niskasen Kahdeksan surmanluotia levitetään maailmalle osana Oscar-palkitun ohjaajan Martin Scorsesen jättihanketta". Yle (in Finnish). 17 June 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  8. ^ Elävän kuvan vuosikirja 1993, p. 81. Suomen elokuvasäätiö, 1993. ISBN 951-37-1086-6.
  9. ^ "Kriitikot valitsivat kaikkien aikojen parhaan kotimaisen elokuvan". Yle-uutiset.
  10. ^ Keijo Palosaari. "Mikko Niskanen: elokuva joka hänen täytyi tehdä – Matkalla kohti ranskalaisen auteur-politiikan sankariroolia". Arctic films.
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