Cinema
Noidan kirot
Teuvo Puro · 1927
Synopsis
Long ago, Finnish settlers killed the Sami sorcerer Jantukka, who cursed them before he died. Generations later, at the isolated farm of Utuniemi, Simo has just married Selma, and the curse seems to weigh on the young couple: nightmares, visions and premonitions are layered over their days. But the real danger has a more ordinary face, that of Paksu-Sakari, the foreman of the timber floaters, who goes after Selma.
Context
Based on a story by Väinö Kataja published in 1914, adapted and directed by Puro for Suomi-Filmi and produced by Erkki Karu, the film was released in September 1927, simultaneously in five cities. It was shot mainly in Korpilahti, in Vesanka and in the Helsinki area, and is among its director's last films. It turns the characters' nightmares into superimposed visions. Finnish radio commissioned a new score from Tapio Tuomela for it in 2010.
Who it is for
A silent film of eighty-two minutes, with Finnish and Swedish intertitles; it can be watched online, without musical accompaniment.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the first Finnish horror film, and the best known and most accessible of the country's early attempts at the genre.