The Tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. It represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show.
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Fresh
The Tomatometer is 60% or higher.
Rotten
The Tomatometer is below 60%.
Certified Fresh
Movies and TV shows are Certified Fresh with a steady Tomatometer of 75% or
higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for wide-release movies, 40 for
limited-release movies, 20 for TV shows), including 5 reviews from Top Critics.
Audience Score
Percentage of users who rate a movie or TV show positively.
The first version of this story was released in 1955 with (Edvin Laine as director and no one less than a 90-year-old Jean Sibelius co-creating the score with Ahti Sonninen. This mid-'80s release is based on the same novel by Vaino Linna (who co-scripted the screenplay), but unlike the scenario in 1955, it is no longer a political hot potato. (The 1955 film was removed from competition at Cannes because of politics.) At issue are two wars for the Finnish province of Karelia fought in 1939-1940 and again in 1941-1944 against a menacing Russian encroachment. During World War II, however, the Finns were briefly allied with Hitler against the Soviet Union, and that is one point of enormous controversy. Another point revolves around whether it was prudent to go so far into Russian territory in the war -- and how does one depict the Russian stance in all this? Here, the story is a simple, direct, and honest look at the lives and deaths of a group of Finn soldiers in a series of battles that ultimately culminated in the loss of 80,000 and the province as well. The action is realistic, none of the soldiers are given a Hollywood veneer, and the three-hour running time entertains without a lag or false note. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi