Milka: A Film About Taboos

Milka: A Film About Taboos (1980)

Milka

Based on a novel by the late Finnish writer Timo Mukka, this simple story focuses on what happens when Milka (Irma Huntus), a girl barely out of childhood, gets pregnant by Ojanen (Matti Turunen) a rustic fieldhand. Her own mother had been hoping to marry Ojanen, and her daughter's pregnancy turns their lives around. Set in the Lapp country of northern Finland, the scenery is breathtaking, made even more so by the isolation of the region. A sense of natural solitude is underscored by a slow-moving dialogue interspersed with long silences, and the connection between nature and the dialogue is underscored as the young Milka recites poetry while out in the countryside. The fate of Milka and her mother, however, is connected to the decision that Ojanen makes at the end.

Date of release
1980-12-19
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (14)
Runtime
1h 50m
Genres
Drama
Director
Rauni Mollberg

Casting

Interesting facts

Milka – A Film About Taboos is a 1980 Finnish drama film directed by Rauni Mollberg. It was entered into the 31st Berlin International Film Festival.

Production

Director Rauni Mollberg used amateurs, including 17-year-old schoolgirl Irma Huntus, who was cast in the title role. Huntus appeared nude in several scenes, which made her life difficult in the small village where she returned after the filming was over.

In 2021, Irma Huntus said she regrets accepting her role in this film. When the movie came out, accompanied by major media visibility and a marketing campaign, Huntus could not find peace even in her hometown of Kaustinen, nor could she continue her education as before. While moving around the villages, the seventeen-year-old young woman heard insults from local men and women.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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