On the verge of the Continuation War (jatkosota) against Russia in 1941, "Rukajärven Tie" (or The Ambush) shows us a story of a bicycle infantry is called to the frontier to fight the Russkies, led by a commander named Eero. This film is interesting in many aspects; it explores the feelings between two lovers separated by the war, the feeling of patriotism for one's own country with a goal of keeping his own country independent and also the structure of the Finnish Army which obviously differentates from that of their ally, the German Army.

As his group is transferred to the battleground, Eero is surprised to see his fiancée there, whom he has thought to be safe back in Helsinki. He goes to his superiors and requests that his fiancée, who is working as an army nurse on the front, to be transferred out to a safer place. His superiors agrees with the condition that Eero leads his soliders on a reconnaissance mission. As his fiancée is transferred, her envoy is ambushed by the Russians and she was thought to be dead, which affects Eero very much.

The Finnish Army starts invading into the Russian terroritory with a goal to gain Karelia back from the Soviets. Although Finland was allied with Germany against the Soviets, it was never a question of supporting the Germans, but rather to maintain their own independence as a country. Norway and Denmark fell under the German Army, and Sweden has managed to maintain its neutrality. Finland did not want to fall under the German nor Soviet dictatorship, hence their soldiers fought all they could to remain a free country. For this reason, the film appealled primarily to the Finnish audience, but probably would have found very little audience outside Finland. This film epitomises the heroic deeds the Finnish soldiers performed during the Continuation War.

After watching many WWII films, one would be more than familiar with the strict discipline and ranks of the German Army, who is an ally of the Finns. In this film, we notice the relationship between the soliders and the ranks. There is no saluting, no rigid marching, and everyone is on first name basis. We see that the Finnish soldiers are quite comfortable with this form of comradeship, and that they are united under one goal; fighting for their freedom and land.

The film does not fully capture the conditions that the Finnish Army had to go through, and one could not help but to wonder about some of the things portrayed in the film. Would some soliders be sitting around an open campfire in middle of a war zone? The film has some shortcomings, but it does deliver. I give this film 2 1/2 stars.