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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Directed by Olli Saarela
Starring Peter Franzén, Irina Björklund, Rosa Salomaa, Sampo Sarkola, Jenni Banerjee, Jorma Tommila, Ville Virtanen, Tommi Korpela, Maria Järvenhelmi, Reino Nordin, Eero Milonoff

Serial killer thrillers are somewhat in baby shoes in Finland since, well, we hardly have any serial killers. You'd think it would be obvious that we did when you consider the amount of alcohol consumption in this country and the amount of domestic disturbance cases. There are no sadistic serial killers and so it really doesn't fit into the psyche of the Finnish mind to watch a film about a local Norman Bates and there would be no reason to make a Silence Of The Lambs-type film because it would not hold water in that regard. In Harjunpää Ja Pahan Pappi or internationally Priest Of Evil the filmmakers have set out to create something that plays with the idea of a serial killer without going full psycho so to speak. There are no suits made out of the skins of the victims.

 Timo Harjunpää (Franzén Pahat Pojat (Bad Boys 2003), Rukajärven Tie (Ambush 1999)) is a detective in the Helsinki PD and his family has suffered a loss couple of years back with the murder of their teenage daughter. The family is trying to cope but he's become estranged from his wife (Björklund The American (2010)) and youngest daughter (Salomaa). At the same time the city is plagued by strange death in the subway system. The distraught Harjunpää is put on the case but he finds himself struggling between his duty and his need for vengeange when the release of his daughter's murderer draws closer.

 Directed by the man behind my favorite Finnish film Rukajärven Tie, I had high expectations and to tell you the truth I had to watch the film twice back to back in order to really get into it. The first time around I found the first 75 minutes to be clichés one after another with the somehow maditory tragedy in the background and every time your main characters are going through something like that, it's honestly hard to stay with the film because it can just make you feel uncomfortable. The other problem I had was that I've always hated Finnish cop shows and films since they've tried to just copy the style and mood off of US cop dramas and it doesn't fit. At all. The second time around the film somehow settled on it's natural tracks and the weird thing is that I can't really explain why. Perhaps since the strong performance of Sarkola as the killer emerged more from the film and made it whole and the Harjunpää family drama felt more familiar and thus more accessible. Also, the thing I will say of this film is that it's executed and shot very well. The style is darker than usual for a Finnish effort and although it might not be Saarela's best film, Harjunpää ja Pahan Pappi still resonates very well.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
Harjunpää Ja Pahan Pappi vaikutti ensimmäisellä katselukerralla pettymykseltä, sillä en päässyt mukaan Franzénin suoritukseen Timo Harjunpäänä ja koko leffan ensimmäiset 75 minuuttia vaikuttivat vain olevan draama- ja poliisisarjakliseitä loppumattomana nauhana. Ajattelin että ehken nyt vain sisäistänyt leffaa kunnolla, sillä onhan ohjaajanakin sentää oman kotimaisen suosikkini, Rukajärven Tien ohjaaja Saarela. Onneksi katsoin toistamiseen, sillä Harjunpään perheen sisäisen tragedian suoltaminen meni toisella kerralla luontevammin kun tietäen lopputuloksen pystyi tilanteeseen syventymään paremmin ja Franzéninkin henkisesti kituva pääosa meni ymmärtäen hahmon ahdinkoa hieman paremmin. Vaikkei Saarela ylitä tälläkään leffalla läpimurtofilmiään, hieno rikoselokuva Harjunpää ja Pahan Pappi on silti. Erityisesti muistiin jää Sarkola elokuvan sarjamurhaajana, sillä hän näyttelee hahmon hienosti vetämättä hommaa överiksi ja kuten kaikkien hyvien pahisroolien kanssa, hänen motiiveissaan on jotain samaistumisen varaa ja se tekee katselukokemuksesta kiinnostavamman sillä parhaimmillaan katsoja saattaa joutua pohtimaan omiakin arvojaan elokuvan edetessä. Viimeksi allekirjoittaneelle on käynyt näin katsellessa hienoa The Dark Knight-rainaa ja kuunnellessa Jokerin tekevän selkoa visioistaan. Sarkolan murhaaja on tosin myös syvästi uskovainen, mutta sillä taas ei ainakaan omassa tapauksessa ole mitään tekemistä samaistumisen kanssa.

Harjunpää Ja Pahan Pappi at IMDb

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