Uuno is number one
After
the last presidential elections, the map of Finland showing the results
colour-coded by the winner in each electoral district was in many ways
similar to the famous red-blue map of the American presidential
elections. One side solidly won the geography, whereas the other one
slightly won the population centers, although in Finland the geography
winner lost. After the election, I recall even reading some grumbling
from the losing side, how unfair it is that their guy can lose even
though almost the whole country voted for him, apparently unaware of
the fact that it is one vote per person, not one vote per square mile.
Recently, there has been a lot of loose talk about urban-rural, metro-retro, red-blue and what else have you cultural divides. In Finland, there is one absolutely waterproof way to find out which side of the cultural divide you stand on: simply state your opinion about the "Uuno Turhapuro" movies. If you actually like these movies and would buy a ticket to go see them in a theater without even a trace of irony, you know that you are solidly in the rural-retro-green state side of the cultural divide, and that there is absolutely nothing "cool" or "hip" about you. In fact, you probably don't even know or at best vaguely aware that this cultural divide exists. And you probably enjoy reading the novels by Arto Paasilinna too, which are another good indicator on a person's position with respect to the cultural divide.
Uuno Turhapuro (see the picture of him at his home page), the title character of these movies that span a three decades of Finnish movie history, is an absurdist and extreme caricature of a Finnish male. Uuno is pretty much the exact opposite of a metrosexual. Half of Uuno's teeth are missing, his hair is always a mess, he sports an ugly stub of beard and his clothes are nothing but tattered rags. He has no job, preferring instead to loaf around in his beloved sofa, occasionally getting up to the fridge to get something to eat. Whenever Uuno does any work, it is only to avoid doing any real work. Despite this, the events always seem to turn out so that Uuno emerges the winner. Things somehow work out for him even though his nemesis, his rich father-in-law who can't stand the idea of his daughter being married to a bum like Uuno who thus stands in line to get his inheritance, does his best to thwart him. The creator of the movies, the late comedy genius Spede Pasanen, has a supporting role as Uuno's best friend, the car mechanic Hartikainen who always has some kind of money-making scheme going on.
Each time a Uuno Turhapuro movie has opened, hundreds of thousands of people (in a nation of five million that doesn't have much movie industry of its own) have eagerly bought tickets to go see them, making pretty much every Uuno movie a hit. So it doesn't matter if the government movie subsidy system doesn't give them anything, choosing to instead support losers like Aki Kaurismäki and his ilk (and that particular topic is certainly worth another post later). During my adulthood in Tampere first studying and then working at the local university, I think I might have met perhaps two people who could have actually done this, just to give you an idea about the cultural segregation that I voluntarily found myself in.
But I can't deny that I did enjoy Uuno movies when I was a kid. It might be interesting to see the seventies Uuno movies again, even though you know that they are going to be crap, just like everything else back then. Besides, the world depicted in these movies would pretty much be a list of everything that I hate about Finland and am glad to have got away from. On the other hand, there might be great stuff in there that would really be clear only now in retrospect, the images of a nation that was losing its rural innocence and becoming urbanized. The early Uuno movies also feature many lines and comical situations that have since then become part of Finnish vernacular. For example, one pretty good joke that I can still remember is when Uuno goes to drink and smoke at the bar at the Esso service station (Uuno's idea of going out to town: non-Finns, please don't ask why a service station would serve alcohol) and he is refused service and thrown out, he starts loudly proclaiming that he personally knows Mr. Veijo Esso and will have them all fired for the way they treat him.
Recently, there has been a lot of loose talk about urban-rural, metro-retro, red-blue and what else have you cultural divides. In Finland, there is one absolutely waterproof way to find out which side of the cultural divide you stand on: simply state your opinion about the "Uuno Turhapuro" movies. If you actually like these movies and would buy a ticket to go see them in a theater without even a trace of irony, you know that you are solidly in the rural-retro-green state side of the cultural divide, and that there is absolutely nothing "cool" or "hip" about you. In fact, you probably don't even know or at best vaguely aware that this cultural divide exists. And you probably enjoy reading the novels by Arto Paasilinna too, which are another good indicator on a person's position with respect to the cultural divide.
Uuno Turhapuro (see the picture of him at his home page), the title character of these movies that span a three decades of Finnish movie history, is an absurdist and extreme caricature of a Finnish male. Uuno is pretty much the exact opposite of a metrosexual. Half of Uuno's teeth are missing, his hair is always a mess, he sports an ugly stub of beard and his clothes are nothing but tattered rags. He has no job, preferring instead to loaf around in his beloved sofa, occasionally getting up to the fridge to get something to eat. Whenever Uuno does any work, it is only to avoid doing any real work. Despite this, the events always seem to turn out so that Uuno emerges the winner. Things somehow work out for him even though his nemesis, his rich father-in-law who can't stand the idea of his daughter being married to a bum like Uuno who thus stands in line to get his inheritance, does his best to thwart him. The creator of the movies, the late comedy genius Spede Pasanen, has a supporting role as Uuno's best friend, the car mechanic Hartikainen who always has some kind of money-making scheme going on.
Each time a Uuno Turhapuro movie has opened, hundreds of thousands of people (in a nation of five million that doesn't have much movie industry of its own) have eagerly bought tickets to go see them, making pretty much every Uuno movie a hit. So it doesn't matter if the government movie subsidy system doesn't give them anything, choosing to instead support losers like Aki Kaurismäki and his ilk (and that particular topic is certainly worth another post later). During my adulthood in Tampere first studying and then working at the local university, I think I might have met perhaps two people who could have actually done this, just to give you an idea about the cultural segregation that I voluntarily found myself in.
But I can't deny that I did enjoy Uuno movies when I was a kid. It might be interesting to see the seventies Uuno movies again, even though you know that they are going to be crap, just like everything else back then. Besides, the world depicted in these movies would pretty much be a list of everything that I hate about Finland and am glad to have got away from. On the other hand, there might be great stuff in there that would really be clear only now in retrospect, the images of a nation that was losing its rural innocence and becoming urbanized. The early Uuno movies also feature many lines and comical situations that have since then become part of Finnish vernacular. For example, one pretty good joke that I can still remember is when Uuno goes to drink and smoke at the bar at the Esso service station (Uuno's idea of going out to town: non-Finns, please don't ask why a service station would serve alcohol) and he is refused service and thrown out, he starts loudly proclaiming that he personally knows Mr. Veijo Esso and will have them all fired for the way they treat him.
Everything was crap in the 70s? You are not exactly a movie buff, are you?
Posted by Anonymous | 9:17 AM
"But I can't deny that I did enjoy Uuno movies when I was a kid. It might be interesting to see the seventies Uuno movies again, even though you know that they are going to be crap, just like everything else back then."
Don't look them. I enjoyed them as a kid and when I have seen nowadays...they really are cheap trash with maybe only 2-3 good jokes per movie. Many of the movies just do not have real plot and there is just some backround scheme that ties loosely different jokes together.
- Syltty
Posted by Anonymous | 10:24 AM
Uuno Turhapuro (see the picture of him at his home page), the title character of these movies that span a three decades of Finnish movie history, is an absurdist and extreme caricature of a Finnish male
I'd say Uuno, the completely irresponsible bum yet with some kind of childlike appeal (even in the eyes of his usually bossy, nagging angry frustrated wife), lives like a Finnish man secretly longs to life. You forgot to mention that Uuno is also a first-class womanizer. When he needs to turn his charm on, he combs his hair, puts on sunglasses, starts speaking in a husky voice, and acting generally coolly - to an ridiculous extent, of course. He then becomes totally irresistable to young beautiful ladies.
Uuno's personal childlike charm and his ingenuity combined with his total invulnerability to social pressure enable him to enjoy a totally care-free and satisfying lifestyle.
Posted by Markku | 6:12 AM