March 31 - 6, 2023 - Events starting @12:30, 3, 4, 6:30, & 7:30pm
Finland, 1972
Directed by Mikko Niskanen
Starring Mikko Niskanen, Tarja-Tuulikki Tarsala, Paavo Pentikäinen, Tauno Paananen
Part one: Approx. 154 min. Part two: Approx. 156 min.
In a remote part of Finland, seemingly abandoned by the 1960s welfare state, farmer Pasi (played by writer/director Niskanen) struggles to eke out a bare living for his wife and four children, working his land with archaic equipment and supplementing his meager income with odd jobs — and with moonshine cooked up deep in the woods. Pasi’s day-to-day existence carefully unfolds: treks through snow-covered woods, arduous work clearing land with horse and plough, rare moments of happy family life, drunken revels with neighboring farmers. But run-ins with the authorities and ever-deepening poverty turn his good-natured carousing into violent fits of despair, crescendoing in a final deadly confrontation…. Inspired by actual events.
