Estonia (Måns Månsson, Juuso Syrjä, 2023): Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Estonia

Reviewed by Ville Salmi at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, 2024.

Estonia is a Finnish, Swedish, Belgian, and Estonian film created by Miikko Oikkonen. It was directed by Måns Månsson and Juuso Syrjä and produced by Matti Halonen and Johannes Lassila. Cast members were Jussi Nikkilä, Kaspar Velberg, Claes Hartelius, Pertti Sveholm and Seidi Haarla. The film was selected for the primetime program of the year 2023. According to MTV Oy’s announcement, Estonia is now the most expensive drama film produced in Finland. The budget for the film is approximately €15 million. It was funded by C More, MTV Oy, and the Swedish television broadcaster TV4. The Finnish Film Foundation has provided 225,000 euros for project development support from 2020 to 2022. The film began filming in June 2022 and it took place in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Turkey. The Marine sequences are shot in Belgian water-themed studios and special effects are produced, for instance, in the United Kingdom and Canada.

The film is about The MS Estonia ferry that tragically sank in the Baltic Sea in the early hours of September 28, 1994. The opening scene of the movie Estonia was captivating because it immediately showed the sinking of the ship. Scenes in the film are tense and the lighting is dim which gives the impression of the bad aspects of the accident. At the beginning of the film, clips were shown about the stormy weather and the ship of Estonia struggling to move in the heavy storm. The style of the movie is European. For example, there are a lot of long scenes in the movie and also scenes where people only talk and the camera angle doesn’t move much. The film follows the events mainly from the point of view of the investigation team but yes, the viewer can also get on the side of the victims of the accident. The movie was also interesting because it was spoken in Finnish, Swedish, Estonian, and English. the film incorporates historical elements, providing a visually stunning and detailed depiction of MS Estonia and the events surrounding its ill-fated voyage from Estonia to Sweden in the stormy Baltic Sea.

The film was really interesting and well-produced. I’m from Finland so that also makes it interesting to me because Finland is not a huge film country so it is nice to see a Finnish-produced film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.