Elinkautiset (2004)

The film is a documentary about Finnish students in Soviet Union. Especially during the 70's and 80's thousands of Finns wanted to study in Soviet Union, as the studies were financed by the Soviet government, and also because there was a leftist movement in Finland at that time. Not least, there was a pioneering spirit and willingness to experience something new. The studies in Soviet Union were an absurd experience in good and in bad. People not only fell down from the windows, but also the nipples of Angela Davis' sister were seen under the net-T-shirt, vodka was cheap, socialism was still building up, at the same time socialism was hated, people were falling in love and they divorced. Did the Finnish soul turn into a Russian one, or was it a brain-damage caused by the cheap Russian vodka? At least the documentary's stars are still today somehow tied to Russia and the Russian way of life. The people "sentenced to life" are a race of their own. They experienced the non-existing world.