The Boys

In the summer of 1941 the war begins and German soldiers arrive in Oulu. For the town's boys it turns into an adventure: they trade with the soldiers, act as interpreters, follow them about and fight among themselves over whose favour they hold. In the autumn of 1944 the Germans pull out. They leave behind unfinished relationships, children who were born, and accounts that were never settled. Mikko Niskanen directed the Finnish film from Paavo Rintala's novel. The telling gives the war through the eyes of children, and that is precisely what makes it hard: the boys walk into it without understanding what it is. It is one of Vesa-Matti Loiri's first films. Its ending is not a heroic one, and the film does not prepare you for it.