Shaolin_Apu

While the film generally manages to avoid the worst pits, it still falls to some of them. The absolutely best thing about the film is, that it does not attempt to establish one side as the good side and the other as bad. The sentiment is fairly neutral, though it may be seen leaning more to Franco's side than to the Republican. It is also stated in the opening credits, that wars start long before the battles, and will end only long after those. Also true.

The main characters appear to be fighting for both sides, and especially Kurylenko is doing a fine job. Other main characters include a good-willing Catholic priest who has to testify atrocities committed against the church. That the church is depicted as a victim, could be to some a 'refreshing alternative' in this contemporary context at least.

This maybe sounds good to some, but unfortunately it does not seem that good. Many scenes are shot in dark, and at least I was totally confused what was going on then. Maybe it was a fault of my DVD and television set, but maybe it was not. Another annoying thing was the soundtrack that seemed to live its own life regardless of what was happening on the screen. I also wished that the film language had been Spanish and not English. Using English was a big loss of immersion for me.

This narrow insight into the famous battle of the North African Campaign during the Second World War could just leave you cold. Agreed, there generally aren't too many productions about the (Czecho)Slovakian participation in the war but I have to say that Dark Blue World was simply the better and the more interesting movie. Maybe I was just too much disappointed by the advertising of the film that promised to consider the whole battle but this film presented only very small portion of the action. More highlighted were some shocking twists of a runaway soldier, which maybe have a fair anti-war purpose but then the movie should have had entirely a different name than "Tobruk". Avoid this if you want to see a film about the battle of Tobruk; and watch this if you were looking for a film about war in bare bones.

In 2002 the PMMP started off as little more than a joke but in few years PMMP evolved into one of the most progressive and professional groups in Finland. While never losing their all-out or nothing -mentality and originality, PMMP managed to combine quality and entertainment value in their later albums as well, though vastly improving in the former with time.

The documentary was produced mainly for TV, as an accompaniment to an intime live show, and therefore there are no show titles or anything like. The program starts right from the interview with the vocalists Paula Vesala and Mira Luoti, and later on it ensues with a discussion with the producer/composer Jori Sjöroos and the vocalists, Paula and Mira, in Jori's home studio. The band members discuss nearly all the songs on the album Kovemmat kädet, others quite deeply while others barely get a mention. The documentary leaves out the two additional songs that become famous but were not included in the original pressing of the Kovemmat kädet album.

The song that mostly gets highlighted is Päiväkoti, of which we also get to listen to the original demo. Also we get to hear an additional Latin language verse that was intended for the song Onni, that also remains as the only so-far co-written song by Vesala and Sjöroos. The other songs get a brief commentary but only the most extraordinary song histories get an interview. I would give the topmost score, but I feel compelled to leave one star out for I know this was not everything you wanted to hear about all the songs on the album.