Jäniksen vuosi (1977)

Director:

Risto Jarva

Writers:

Risto Jarva (writer)
Kullervo Kukkasjärvi (writer)

Release Date:

23 December 1977 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Young advertising executive Vatanen suddenly quits his job and his whole life in Helsinki, and decides to spend a while in the Finnish wilderness...

Plot Keywords:

Lapland | Wilderness | Advertising | Forest | Animal In Title

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Antti Litja	...	Kaarlo Vatanen
Kauko Helovirta	...	Desk Sergeant
Markku Huhtamo	...	Taxi Driver
Paavo Hukkinen	...	Taxi Driver in Heinola
Juha Kandolin	...	Photographer Miettinen
Kosti Klemelä	...	U. Kärkkäinen
Anna-Maija Kokkinen	...	Lawer Leila Heikkinen
Martti Kuningas	...	Hannikainen, former rural police chief
Ahti Kuoppala	...	Kaartinen
Hannele Lanu	...	Kiosk Vendor
Hannu Lauri	...	Advertising Manager Huhtinen
Heikki Nousiainen	...	Tourist guide Toropainen, "Mr. Toro"
Esa Pakarinen	...	Police Officer #2 (as Esa Pakarinen Jr.)
Martti Pennanen	...	Hunter #1
Tuija Piepponen	...	Irja (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Harens år (Finland: Swedish title)
The Year of the Hare (International: English title) (informal literal title)
A nyúl éve (Hungary) [hu]
Das Jahr des Hasen (West Germany) [de]
God zaitsa (Soviet Union: Russian title) [ru]
L'année du lièvre (France) [fr]
L'anno del coniglio (Italy) [it]
O Ano do coelho (Portugal) [pt]
Zajeczy rok (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

Finland

Language:

Finnish | English

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Helsinki, Finland

Company:

Filminor

Trivia:

In the accompanying letter of the first draft of the film that was sent to the Finnish Film Foundation production company Filminor published a manifesto that said: "The meaning of the film is to show how precious nature is and how preserved it should be. The film is also meant to show how beneficial is nature's influence on the hectic and distress urban human mind that is been pushed forward by the competition-mentality and the selling of oneself. The Year of the Hare is a story about a flight to the country site, a flight to nature, to a lifestyle that is more simpler and more agrarian. It is an idealistic tale in the spirit of Henri Rousseau and Frank Capra. The Year of the Hare is a story about aligning the one who is weaker, a story about how goodness makes one's life pleasant - even today."

Quotes:

Photographer Miettinen: I lost my pal in the woods.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Taiteilijaelämää: Antti Litja (#2.2)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Kauppaopiston naiset

Accessible magic

This film is more accessible to a foreign public than many other Finnish films, partly due to the limited dialogue. The point being that feelings often cannot be put aptly into words (at least not in Finland), but they can be communicated by visual impressions.

The plot is like that of a road movie, except that the buddies here are a man and a hare (hence the limited dialogue). The background is mostly formed by the Finnish pine forests.

Central to the film is the tension between the modern life style and the traditional Finnish closeness to nature and its magic. This magic and some twists of idiosyncratic, under cooled Finnish humour make the watching of this flick quite enjoyable.