# Unknown Soldier (2018)

> A Finnish machine gun company endures the Karelian front of the Continuation War from mobilization in 1941 to the Moscow Armistice in 1944.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/72107

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 5
- Episode runtime: 55 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: war, drama
- Created by: Aku Louhimies
- Network: Yle Areena, Yle TV1
- Cast: Eero Aho, Jussi Vatanen, Aku Hirviniemi, Johannes Holopainen, Hannes Suominen, Arttu Kapulainen, Max Ovaska, Vincent Willestrand
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9604400/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: gritty, weary, darkly humorous, sincere, bleak

## Synopsis

Unknown Soldier (2018) is a Finnish war miniseries created by Aku Louhimies for Yle, a five-episode expansion of the 2017 film of the same name. Adapted from Väinö Linna's classic novel, it follows a machine gun company of the Finnish Army on the Karelian front during the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union. Eero Aho plays Antero Rokka, the company's central soldier, alongside Jussi Vatanen as Koskela, Aku Hirviniemi as Hietanen and Johannes Holopainen as Kariluoto. The engine of the series is the daily grind of survival: men moving through mud, cold and sudden combat, held together by humor and loyalty as they wait out a war with no clear end. Each episode tracks the company's mobilization in 1941 through to the Moscow Armistice in 1944, building a long arc rather than standalone stories. Set in wartime Karelia and the Finnish home front, the series carries a grounded, weary, darkly humorous register, with camaraderie offsetting the brutality around it. Its emotional weight comes from the way the war reaches both the men in the trenches and the families they leave behind. Fans of Band of Brothers, All Quiet on the Western Front and The Winter War will find resonance in its portrait of ordinary soldiers enduring history.

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