Synopsis

Under the North Star is based on Väinö Linna's trilogy of novels of the same name, which is one of the most important works of Finnish literature. The story brings to life a colourful and dramatic period in world history from the late 1800s to the 1950s. Its sharp-sighted description of human destiny is powerfully touching and thoroughly humane.

UNDER THE NORTH STAR II is based on the final novel of the trilogy.



Finland's bitter and bloody Civil War in 1918 divided the people in two. Thousands were killed in prison camps. Akseli Koskela avoids execution by mere chance, and is pardoned. After his liberation from a four-year-stint in a prison camp, Akseli withdraws from the world and concentrates on farming the lands of his croft, trying to settle with the ghosts of his past. Without a thought for himself, he toils for his children's future, with his wife Elina by his side, trying to ease her husband's burden by being strong. Finally, Akseli is allowed to purchase the croft's lands for his family and he thinks everything will be fine now - but a different destiny awaits.

The Winter War breaks out, and the Soviet Union tries to occupy Finland. The people torn in two by the Civil War unite in the face of a common enemy and accomplish the impossible. An overwhelming enemy is fended off, but the price is high for Finland and Akseli alike. His two younger sons are killed in the war, and the oldest, to his horror, abandons the home croft and sets off on a career in the military. Akseli's fears are realised as his eldest son is also killed on the battlefield during the final moments of the Continuation War.

The country remains free, and Akseli is now also a free farmhouse owner, but has it all been worth it?
In Akseli's own words: "What sense was there in anything if nothing is left? Why the Koskela house, from father's first shovel strike to a lifetime of toil and trouble, if in the end there is just emptiness..."

Under the North Star is a realistic and profoundly humane account of the immense and inhuman sacrifices that ordinary people and families have to make when they get caught between the wheels of history like grains of sand.