Milka: A Film About Taboos

• 5.8 Drama
• 1980-12-19
• 110 minutes mins

Based on a novel by the late Finnish writer Timo Mukka, this simple story focuses on what happens when Milka (Irma Huntus), a girl barely out of childhood, gets pregnant by Ojanen (Matti Turunen) a rustic fieldhand. Her own mother had been hoping to marry Ojanen, and her daughter's pregnancy turns their lives around. Set in the Lapp country of northern Finland, the scenery is breathtaking, made even more so by the isolation of the region. A sense of natural solitude is underscored by a slow-moving dialogue interspersed with long silences, and the connection between nature and the dialogue is underscored as the young Milka recites poetry while out in the countryside. The fate of Milka and her mother, however, is connected to the decision that Ojanen makes at the end.

Starring:

Irma Huntus (Milka Sierkkiniemi) Leena Suomu (Anna Sierkkiniemi) Matti Turunen (Ojanen) Eikka Lehtonen (Malmström) Esa Niemelä (Auno) Hellin Auvinen-Salmi (Villager) Voitto Harju (Villager) Sonja Joensuu (Young Milka) Kerttu Juusela (Villager) Toivo Lampela (Host of Laanila)

Director:

Rauni Mollberg

Writer:

Rauni Mollberg Jussi Niilekselä Seppo Heinonen Veikko Aaltonen