Fuck Off! – Images from Finland | WATCH DOCS

In the early 1970s, at a time when the Finnish countryside was depopulating due to poverty, with thousands emigrating to Sweden in search of work, Jörn Donner, writer, director, politician and producer, set off with a camera on a journey through Finland. He recorded conversations with hundreds of ordinary people, asking them one simple question, "What is it like to live in Finland?" He asked about everyday life, dreams, love, sex, politics, and the future, producing one of the most courageous and uncompromising documentaries in the history of Finnish cinema. Donner portrays Finland as a country full of frustration, disappointment and social tensions, far from the myths of Scandinavian prosperity. The camera reaches places and people that the official narrative usually omitted: workers, the unemployed, single women, and migrants. This raw, non-stereotypical punk film offers inspiration to filmmakers looking to capture the spirit of a specific era. 

Weronika Adamowska