Härmä is not a true story but it is based on history and it might as well could have been a true story. Events take place in South Ostrobothnia of Finland somewhere in 1800 century.
At that time the region was controlled by outlaws who were generally called häjyt or puukkojunkkarit. They did what they liked and stabbed to death who ever disagreed with them. It is said that back then, in proportion to population, there were more people killed in Ostrobothnia than in Chicago when gangsters ruled by machine guns. Story of the movie revolves around two brothers which one is good and the other one is bad and of course they both well in love with the same girl. When father makes a drastic decision against tradition, to give all to the younger, good brother in his will, the two boys are driven to fight against each other.
I think Härmä is a very accurate description of that time. It shows the old red wooden housed and long plain fields that one can see even today when visiting Härmä. It also describes the Finnish way of life in the old days. It is a good history lesson. However, it is not a very good way to learn finish as most of the finish people don’t fully understand the dialect they use to this day in Ostrobothnia.
This movie was served with glögi and homemade ginger biscuits. A new Finnish word was puukko which means knife.
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