
2015
So great is to die and live for happiness and freedom
A documentary film about Martta Koskinen, the last executed woman in Finland during the war in 1943. Martta was a Seamstress who lived in Helsinki during the Second World War. She was one of the post-civil war (in 1918) generation for whom the war had meant a disappointment in the system and failure in unity of the Finnish nation. The legacy of the civil war had left systems of persecution in place for those with socialist ideals. Martta and her fellow revolutionaries were determined to continue the resistance movement although they knew that at worst it could cost their lives. Martta was imprisoned twice before she was shot. She was an idealist, whose seemingly harmless, naive beliefs in peace and justice were the most dangerous traits a person could have at the time.

Martta Koskinen
Herself (Archive footage)

Vera Kiiskinen
Martta Koskinen (voice)

Pekka Milonoff
Narrator (voice)

Laura Birn
Hertta Kuusinen (voice)

Elena Leeve
Mirjam Koskinen (voice)

Vilma Melasniemi
Elvi Sinervo (voice)

Taisto Oksanen
EK:n / Valpon etsivä (voice)

Antti Seppänen
EK:n / Valpon etsivä (voice)

Antti Virmavirta
EK:n / Valpon etsivä (voice)

Merja Ritola
Elma Wahlsten (voice)

Seppo Louhi
Emil Soinala (voice)

Nicholas Wancke
Hj. A. Paunu (voice)

Mila Nirhamo
Martta (dramatisoidut kuvat)

Ville Suhonen
Olavi Heiman (voice)

Wanda Gosciminska – A Textile Worker

Eternal Flame of Gehenna

Großes Kino made in DDR

Finlandia

Violent Jazz from the North

Paul Robeson: 20th Century Renaissance Man, Entertainer & Activist

Unity SPD – KPD

Mario y los perros

Atlas

Cannibal Island

Return of the White-tailed Eagle

These Heathen Dreams

The Writer Who Hated the Swedish Language

The Execution Machine: Texas Death Row

Eatnameamet – Our Silent Struggle

The Spectre of Marxism

Pif, Behind the gimmicks

The Dinosaur

A People’s Radio – Ballads from a Wooded Country

Children of the Decree