The film Frozen Land by director Aku Louhimies begins optimistically enough with a thoughtful quote about the Finns by one of the country’s most famous rock groups, Eppu Normaali: “Born pure into the future’s hands in these cold and northern lands”.
From this hopeful starting point the film descends into a gritty study of human weakness and the corruption of Nordic purity that embraces alcoholism, unemployment, a double murder, drug abuse, family violence and depression, all set in a darkened land of dirty, semi-frozen slush.
