Knowing your host country well also means knowing its cultural production. Finland lacks a massive entertainment industry, but the quality of its films and series has improved a lot in recent years, especially since the country climbed to the wave of Nordic Noir.
In this context there has been the recent success of some series such as Sorjonen.
What prevents many foreigners from discovering the good Finnish audiovisual products is, as usual, the linguistic barrier. However, Foreigner.fi has selected two series and one movie that can be enjoyed with at least English subtitles. All of them deserve to be seen.
Sorjonen - Bordertown (2016)
Trailer of Sorjonen, published by TV-hetket in YouTube.
Sorjonen, marketed in English as Bordertown, is a Finnish crime drama. The series has been described as Finland's first Nordic Noir production. The first season can be seen on Netflix.
Detective Inspector Kari Sorjonen is one of the most respected officers at the National Bureau of Investigation in Finland when his wife barely survives brain cancer. Hoping to have a more peaceful life, Sorjonen accepts a new job leading SECRI, the Serious Crime Unit in Lappeenranta (east Finland), and moves with his family this city near the Russian border. Of course hoping to have more peaceful life. Of course, there he will find everything except the expected tranquility and his life will turn out to be less than peaceful.
The first season is available in Netflix. It has eleven episodes that consist on five separate crimes.
Subtitles: Finnish, English, German, Arabic.
Audio: Finnish, English, German.
Alamaailma - Underworld (2010)
The trailer of Underworld published by TheVertigoFi in YouTube.
Alamaailma, in English Underworld, is a Finnish trilogy about the world of international crime. The series has eleven episodes divided into three separate stories, told from the point of view of different characters.
The Prisoner
After arguing with her girlfriend, the young Vesa Levola gets into a street fight on New Year. Without him wanting it, the man to whom he struck a blow dies. Vesa the goes to jail, where he is forced to act as a drug dealer between the prison and the civilian world.
The drug boss Reka Sundström is trying to get Vesa to work for him. Reka Sundström runs smuggling operations in cooperation with the Mafia of Stockholm and St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, Sundström's actions and international drug smuggling are investigated by Commissioner Juha Viitasalo, a a bizarre policeman with a complicated personal life who sometimes uses unorthodox methods.
The Cop
Pekka Manninen, a Finnish-Swedish drug police at the Stockholm Drugs Unit, is sent to Finland on a dangerous mission.
With the help of a beautiful but toxic Russian drug-addicted girl, Manninen must infiltrate the Russian mafia with the mission of investigating heroin routes from St. Petersburg, first to Finland and then to other parts of Europe. The problem is that working with mobsters, sometimes, requires doing very bad things.
The Lawyer
Lawyer Tomas Mattila is a frustrated, lullaby and vengeance criminal lawyer who has been dealing with drug dealers for ten years. Before that, Mattila was a business lawyer in the corporate world, but he was dismissed. At the same time, his wife left him and he lost his daughter and the house.
One day, a beautiful young lady makes an incredible job offer for Mattila. However, nothing is so as great as it first appeared.
Subtitles: Finnish, Swedish, English.
Audio: Finnish.
Syysprinssi - Love and Fury (2016)
The trailer of Syysprinssi (Love and Fury), published in YouTube by Solar.
Alli Haapasalo's first long fiction film Love and Fury is based on Anja Kaurasen's strongly autobiographical novel published in 1996.
Going back to 1980, Inka and Juhana are first-time writers and cultural activists working in the center of the punk movement, who fall in love with passion. However, the close, passionate love affair changes when Juhana's mind begins to crack.
Anja Kauranen (Snellman since 1997), is a successful Finnish author. Her first book Sonja O. was here (1981) is considered her literary breakthrough. The literary career of Snellman has continued 30 years and she has published over 20 books. Her works have been translated into 16 languages.
In 2007 Snellman got the Pro Finlandia medal for her literary work. Sonja O. was here is still Finland's best-selling first novel.
Subtitles: Finnish, Swedish, English.
Audio: Finnish.
