A priest's faith crumbles. The church abandons him. Finland's coldest winter is inside his soul.
Pastor Samuel Bro has lost his faith in God. He is in conflict with the Church Council and is rejected from his priesthood. He moves away to a different life.
Acting
Åke Lindman's restrained collapse of a man.
Cinematography
Bleak Finnish landscapes as spiritual void.
Direction
Särkkä's patient, unflinching observation.
Director
T.J. Särkkä
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Frans Eemil Sillanpää's 1918 novel, written during Finland's civil war — the title year carries political weight the film largely avoids.
Sillanpää won the 1939 Nobel Prize in Literature; this adaptation came during Finland's most prolific studio era, when religious doubt was rare on screen.
FI
