Review: Matkalla Porkkalaan
WHO MURDERED IVAN BELOV?
On the Way to Porkkala is a comedic thriller about the years of danger in Finland
Question: What is the most investigated single murder case in Finnish criminal history? The case of Kyllikki Saari or the tent killings on Lake Bodom?
Neither of these, at least if the book written by Risto Niku in 2003 is to be believed. The most investigated is the murder of Captain Ivan Belov.
Well, Lake Bodom, which has recently been carefully dug up again, may have already gone to the top in terms of the amount of paper, but on the politically interesting scale, the camping trip of Nils Gustafsson and co. does not come close to the case of Russian Captain Belov.
Ivan Belov, who was travelling with a Russian military column, was shot at close range in Lauttasaari, Helsinki, on 3 November 1944, in the darkness of the night. The name of the murderer was never solved.
This deliciously fascinating mystery serves as the starting point for the Helsinki City Theatre’s play On the Way to Porkkala. The end result is also quite delicious.
Murder in a Timid Time
The murder of Ivan Belov took place at an extremely sensitive moment for the Finnish state. The Continuation War was narrowly over, and the shadow of the Control Commission hung heavy over Finland.
The Finnish authorities feared that the Russians would occupy the country if the murderer was not found. On the other hand, the incident was suspected to be a showdown between the Russians or a deliberate provocation – some Finnish politicians were already reminded of the new shots fired at Mainila.
The play follows the progress of the murder investigations from the point of view of Valpo investigator Freedy Kekäläinen (Santeri Kinnunen). At first, all traces seem to lead to Lieutenant Räsänen (Ilkka Heiskanen), who had just returned from the war, and who was on his way home to Lauttasaari at the time of the murder. Räsänen’s military weapon also happens to be suitably missing.
The worse thing is that Räsänen was in his head like a cuckoo on the night of the murder and doesn’t remember anything about the events – except of course that he didn’t shoot anyone.
Kekäläinen will have a few days from the supervisory commission to resolve the case. The temptation to seize on the most obvious scapegoat is great: does one person’s fate or truth matter at all if an entire country has to be saved from occupation?
Smooth control
Sami Keski-Vähälä’s play works like the best detective stories. The screenwriter’s familiarity with film narrative is reflected in the efficient pacing of scenes and different locations. Katariina Kirjavainen’s rough set design provides a functional framework for the narrative.
Milko Lehto’s direction moves the story forward as if on track, on the terms of the plot. I’m not a fan of the detective genre, but this thriller does maintain its tension nicely until the end of the two-and-a-half-hour.
On the other hand, the detective story also grows nicely out of its frame, caught up in the mental climate of the time.
After the war, the political situation was so explosive that it was feared that almost any personal blunder would escalate into an international conflict. Through the character of Lieutenant Räsänen, the play also touches on the theme of the soldier’s return home.
The most joyful thing, however, is that Lehto does not try to make accurate historical illustrations, but dares to make the job fat to the right extent. Farcical caricatures are made of the men of the Control Commission, but the mouse-like attitude of Finnish politicians towards the “men of the Tower” is just as openly laughed at. The time of Finlandization is already in its infancy – only comrade “Kekonen” and vodka are good enough for the Russians.
Dazzling Heiskanen
Ilkka Heiskanen does a dazzlingly fine job in the lead role of the play. In Heiskanen’s treatment, Räsänen becomes a very genuine Finns man who has lost something essential about himself in the turmoil of the war. At least it doesn’t help that the home looks very different from the one from which they went to war.
Santeri Kinnunen is very Santeri Kinnunen as Freedy Kekäläinen. On the other hand, his acting qualities are well suited to this role of a hard-boiled but honest murder investigator on the inside.
For a change, Oskari Katajisto is in the role of an anti-hero as a nildistribution engineer who lures Räsänen into the paths of vice, with fatal consequences. Räsänen’s wife Eila (Ursula Salo) is not as clean as it seems at first glance.
Of the Russian generals in the play, the most memorable is Zdanov (Antti Litja), the arrogant head of the Control Commission and a dangerous fool. Joachim Wigelius as Savonenkov is his psychotic right-hand man, Seppo Maijala is the man of the troika’s activities.
But who murdered Ivan Belov? In this play, that is also clarified, perhaps a little too precisely. The lengthy reckoning scene at the end is actually the only weaker link in the whole splendor.
Sami Keski-Vähälä: On the Way to Porkkala, premiere on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre 30.3. Director: Milko Lehto. Set design: Katariina Kirjavainen. Costumes: Maija Pekkanen. Lights: Juhani Leppänen. Sound: Antero Mansikka. Choreography: Tiina Peltonen. Cast: Ilkka Heiskanen, Oskari Katajisto, Ursula Salo, Santeri Kinnunen, Aarno Sulkanen, Heikki Sankari, Antti Litja, Joachim Wegelius, Seppo Maijala, Vappu Nalbantoglu, Matti Olavi Ranin.
More detailed information about Belov’s murder can be found in Risto Niku’s book Who Shot Ivan Belov? (Edita, 2003).