Ambush is a 1999 Finnish war film directed by Olli Saarela

Olli Saarela

Olli Saarela is a Finnish film director. He has directed films such as Ambush, Bad Luck Love, Rollo and the Woods Sprite and Year of the Wolf, which is based on a book written by Virpi Hämeen-Anttila....

. Literally "The Road to Rukajärvi", the film debuted on 22 January 1999 in Finland, after which it was released internationally. The film is based on a book written by Antti Tuuri

Antti Tuuri

Antti Elias Tuuri is a Finnish writer, known for his works dealing with Southern Ostrobothnia....

 and its leads are played by Peter Franzén

Peter Franzen

Peter Franzen is a retired English journalist, who was the editor of the Norwich-based regional newspaper the Eastern Daily Press, a position he occupied from 1993 until his retirement in 2009...

 as Lt.

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 Eero Perkola and Irina Björklund

Irina Björklund

Irina Björklund is a Finnish actress.Björklund was born in Danderyd, Stockholm County, Sweden but she quickly moved to Finland with her family. She has acted in movies and in television series. Some well known movies include Rukajärven tie , Levottomat , Minä ja Morrison , and Vieraalla Maalla...

 as Kaarina Vainikainen, Lt. Perkola's love.

Rukajärvi

Muyezersky District

Muyezersky District is an administrative district , one of the fifteen in the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Municipally, it is incorporated as Muyezersky Municipal District. Its administrative center is the urban locality of Muyezersky...

 (Rugozero) is a municipality (as well as a lake) in Karelia

Republic of Karelia

The Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is located in the northwestern part of Russia, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, and it was occupied by the Finnish Army during the Continuation War

Continuation War

The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...

 of 1941-44.

Awards

The film won seven Jussi Awards in 2000 including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Photography, Best Edit, Best Staging, Best Sound Design and Best Score.

See also

• Winter War
  Winter War
  The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
  
  
• Talvisota (film)
  Talvisota (film)
  The Winter War is a 1989 Finnish war film directed by Pekka Parikka, based on The Winter War, a novel by Antti Tuuri. It tells the story of a Finnish infantry regiment "JR 23", which consists almost solely of men from Southern Ostrobothnia, focusing mainly on a platoon of reservists from Kauhava...
  
  a film of another Antti Tuuri novel about Finland's Winter War
  Winter War
  The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...