I liked the pacing of the movie as well as the characters. The main character is a man who is at a difficult point in his life, so I don't feel his character development is unrealistic.What led to -2 stars is definitely the end. Like seriously, what the... Why does his brother have to kill himself? Obviously he is in a bad place mentally, but why can't the movie give us a happy end? It's so unnecessary and random, especially when the relationship between the brothers is starting to get better. I get it, psychotherapy isn't dramatic and cool, but how about that and some meetings with the victim to talk things over? Why have this absolutely stupid suicide to up the drama or whatever instead of showing a way out of whatever mental problems he's going through, show them rent the land and rebuild it and them living there with their families? or did they run out of money to make it a proper end and that's why they cut the brother's story short? So yeah, that was very disappointing, but the rest of the movie is quite nice. The kid is a little brat, too, and his father also doesn't know when to stop, but that's what makes the characters realistic. Still wanted a better ending. I'm very conflicted, but I think it's worth a watch.

The film industry suffers from a lot of problems - weak scripts, small pool of talent hogging everything and a claustrophobic, incestuous climate of recycled films/actors/ideas. There's the obligatory film about the war with Russia, a whole bunch of wannabe Hollywood filmmakers that should stick to music videos and nothing of real quality worth noting.When asked "Is there a good Finnish film to watch?" I would just say "no, not really." I'm not being unpatriotic, but you should just watch things that are good. Watching things out of patriotism is akin to charity.This film is actually good. I would give it 6.7, but IMDb does not have fractions, so I rounded it up to seven, which is quite generous.There are problems with this film that stem from a slightly immature/amateur production.Music has little to play in this film. Film is not theater and we don't live in the silent film era, but some films give so little consideration to audio which is, in my opinion, half the film. There's no powerful score, no soundtrack to help the story, nothing. Scenes with Nazis could've had metal, punk or something. Scenes with refugees could've had some music. Show this contrast of cultures.Real-life Neo-Nazis make a bigger deal about music they don't like than other minor grievances (not just them, innocent kids in the car complain about music because music is powerful and if you don't like it, it's really annoying).The cinematography was okay. They just filmed it as it is. There's no interesting camera movement, angles, framing, blocking. The camera just filmed what was there and that's it.The casting is great. The acting is great.Locations - meh. There was nothing special.Pacing was a bit heavy. The story didn't have a great flow to it. Editing too. Things just happen one after the other, sometimes you're not sure if this is the same minute, day or week. Dialogue was okay. The script showed some weakness.It's a good film overall and a step in the right direction for the industry as a whole.I'm going to state this explicitly so that no one learns the wrong lesson: The reason why this film is good is because it's original (not a ripoff of some American film) and it's entertaining. This does not mean "People liked this film, let's make it 15 more times" or "let's make more films about Neo-Nazis, people love that topic." Nopes, sorry. I liked the first one, this one. Think of something new next time. I'm not interested in any more stories about Neo-Nazis, or step-father-step-child bonding or something of the sort.If you cook a good dish and your spouse says "Wow, you're a good cook" - that doesn't mean "hmm. S/he likes spaghetti. I'm gonna make that for him/her every day for 40 years!"SPOILERThe idea that the boy's father would leave his son alone with two skinheads that play pranks with grenades is laughable. People don't leave their kids with a random stranger to begin with. Two random strangers? Two random skinhead strangers? Two random skinhead strangers who play jokes with grenades? I can't fault the actors. This is amateur scriptwriting.

OK. I must admit: I have not seen to many Finnish movies. But the few that I have seen has been either really boring or, if it is a comedy, really boring.But this one. WOW! Nothing short of stunning, with great performances all over. Not just from Peter Franzén but also from the rest of the crew, the Nazi fellows not the least. Jasper Pääkkönen (try saying that name really fast ten times) playing the brother in the film is equally good.The movie has a message. But it is not made "down your throat". Just as the Nazis in the movie are acting stupid, so is the black father and the gypsies. So lots of people with different colored skin and different backgrounds, acting stupid. Not just one part. As often in the real world.Makes me wonder if there are more good Finnish movies. At least this one gives me a certain hope that there might be. Or at least some to come.

I had honestly given up hope of ever seeing a truly good Finnish film. Finnish filmmakers seemed to have this peculiar depressive streak a mile wide and every film I watched was either painfully banal comedy or a dark drama about the cruelty of life. And then I saw this film.Leijonasydän by Dome Karukoski is the best Finnish film I've personally ever seen. It has the capacity of emotion, the sheer skill and the story to stand side by side with the best international films out there. And the reasons for this excellence are the reasons why most films succeed: excellent characters and a great story. And it's not that the story itself is all that unpredictable or new. The film is about a Neo-Nazi that is forced to live with his new girlfriend's son. A son, whose father just happens to be of African descent. You can probably figure out how the story will pan out just from that. It's the execution here, the way the story is told and how well the actors do their jobs, that pulls the movie through.And those aforementioned actors are all very skilled. Peter Franzén and Jasper Pääkkönen both do a credible job of portraying two brothers, who both happen to believe in white power. Yet they're not treated unsympathetically. Their actions are condemned, sure, but the film also goes to great lengths to show them not as monster, but as people who believe in wrong things. They both show capability for regret, sympathy and even love, despite their upbringing. Great depth of emotion and humanity.Laura Birn and Yusufa Sidibeh also shine as mother and son. Finland still doesn't get all that many immigrants, so people of foreign descent are still something of an oddity here. Thus it's great to see films like this one that treat the fact like it's supposed to be: a family, no matter their respective skin colour.As far criticism goes, I only have a couple of nitpicks. Like how the ending could have gone on for a bit longer, or how Birn's character gets suddenly removed for a part of the film, but these are more matters of taste rather than real flaws in the film.Leijonasydän is a great film. It believes in humanity, has incredible role performances and is just all around heartwarming to watch. Highly recommended for all.