When the battle has ceased

the only thing that remains is...

SILENCE

A drama between people under unconventional circumstances.

In the Second World War Finland was the only nation who brought casualties killed-in-action back to be buried at home. These actions were carried out by men and women working in assembly centres near enemy lines.

Silence is a story of a group of people in a limbo between life and death, in a mental no-man's- land, where heaven and hell, horror and joy, love and fear touch each other.

Synopsis

The Second World War, spring 1944 at the battlefront between Finland and Russia. There is a casualty evacuation centre for the fallen right behind the front line. Dead soldiers are gathered there to be sent back home. A group of four men and three women are running the centre.

The never ending ritual of thawing, tidying and dressing the deceased separates the small community from the surrounding reality. The dead are whispering, they are guided to the netherworld, and visions are granted to those who know how to look.

"Silence" is the story of Eino, the son of a corpse washer, who has been commissioned to the centre with his friend Antti. Eino joins the war his simple soul full of heroic ideals. The war, however, turns out to be the dull task of taking care of the dead  interrupted only by arduous trips to pick up more bodies. Life in the small community turns out to be more complicated than the war itself.

Director's note

It is extremely rare that a powerful script like "Silence" comes along. The text moves me again and again, making me both laugh and cry. The war adventure of Eino and Antti starts off as a dark picaresque novel, but broadens towards the end to tell the universal story about human's part in the circle of birth and death. The story is at the same time Finnish, European and universal

Eino's odyssey through the land of the shadow of death is very cinematic. The setting of the evacuation centre for the fallen reminds me of the films of Huston, Kieslowski, Klimov and Kusturica. The innocent but very real essence of Eino's character grounds the narrative at all times and makes the story equally epic and witty, economical and plausible. The viewpoint stays at eye level with the central characters.

"Silence" sees war as an industry, with the fallen as its end product. This logistical chain gives the story its direction and reason at all times. It is possible to direct actors to spring to life against a text like this.

The text has the right kind of depth. That is why I want to make this film.

Sakari Kirjavainen, director

Director's filmography

Tali-Ihantala 1944 (with Åke Lindman) (2007)
Who Asks for Fire (2001)
The Crowninig (1999)
Whale Oil Lamp (1997)

CREATIVE TEAM

• Script Esko Salervo
• Director Sakari Kirjavainen
• Cinematographer Petri Rossi
• Producers Petri Rossi and Alf Hemming
• Production company Cine Works