The Minister of State
Sagojogan ministeri (Minister på villovägar/ Ministern)
Stol pä ministeren (Norwegian title)
Sagojoga minister

Finland 1997 colour 83min

****

Drama

cast: Bjorn Sundquist (Antti Neia), Erik Kiviniemi (Seppo Rävmark), Anita Suikkari, Kari-Pekka Toivonen (Otto Swinskjöld), Esko Hukkanen, Esko Nikkari, Soli Labbart, Wimme Saari
credits: dir. and script Paul-Andres Simma, music Wimme Saari, prod. Claes Olsson with Axel Helgeland and Bert Sundberg, DOP Hans Welin

At first it wasn't easy to believe that this kind of a movie could be so funny, but it is. It starts with a scene in the present day. An old man is driving his car and he starts to tell a story to a kid. Then we go back to 1945, when the WW2 was going on. The story takes its place in Sagojoga, Lappland. The small village is surrounded by three big states: Sweden, Finland and Russia. The people there change their language and props depending on who is attacking. Sometimes Sagojoga is part of Finland, sometimes part of Sweden etc. The life in the village changes when two villagers find an ill man from the woods. The scary villagers don't know should they kill the man or what until the guy finally wakes up and claims that he's minister Rävmark from Helsinki, Finland. Of course he's not, but that is a starter of an incredible adventure. Both the minister (Erik Kiviniemi) and the villagers are criminals but somebody has to win.

The story has some real historical background but it's still very much of fantasy. Some of the actors seem to be unprofessional, but in a way it's good to see real people from Lappland in the movie too. The Lapplandish music of the movie won a Finnish Oscar prize called Jussi. It's brilliant in its happy weirdness.

---