The Hindu Business Line : Valo, 9, who dared the Czar regime

Nafeeza Ali Sodhi (right), Chairperson, Children’s Film Society of India, with Finnish film director Kaija Juurikkala at the 15th International Children’s Film Festival at I-Max in Hyderabad on Friday.

K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad, Nov. 16 For nine-year-old Valo Ahola, the ‘Bloody Sunday’ of 1907 evoked more anger than fear, for he lost a best friend in the brutal firing on the protestors. He and his father, a rebel, too missed death by a whisker. But the little Valo’s anger was not the one that demanded immediate revenge.

Set in a small hamlet in an area that now falls in Finland, the 84-minute movie, directed by Ms Kaija Juurikkala, a former school teacher, goes on to depict how a group of motley kids organises a school in the village.

What’s the big deal in that, one might ask. But consider this, all elders in the hamlet are afraid of the spy and a police chief, who keep tabs on the movements of the villagers.

“Don’t attract the attention,” Valo’s father, who is serving a punishment in the village, warns him as he sets off for the school at the village. The school is just the extension of society – indifferent to children, caring little for their rights.

Valo finds a mentor in Marie, the new teacher, who loves children. But the secret police find her a threat to the regime and transfers her.

Unfazed, the kids, led by Valo and his friend Ville, go on to build the school that soon attracts the wrath of the spy and Valo is put in jail. The judge serves a five-year term on him for running the school as a ‘front’ for his father’s rebellious activity.

Just in time, Ville, who could sneak into the court room using fake permit, reads out the diary of Valo, which relates the indifference of parents. Moved, the judge sends the spy to Siberia and the boy to the village, giving him a licence to start a school.

It is not just the audience in the court that goes into thunderous applauds on hearing the judgment, scores of school children, who gathered here to watch the movie at Prasad’s IMAX too received it with cheers.

Though dated, the film is still relevant. For nothing has changed much – both in terms of our treatment of children and the secret police keeping tabs on communities.

Real life story

“I could lay my hands on the childhood dairies of the artist-philosopher Aleksanteri Ahola-Valo in 2000. I screened some 4,000 children to get the right kind of children to play the century-old characters,” Ms Juurikkala told Business Line.

“I specially looked at the eyes of the children, for they could portray the feelings well,” she says.

The 47-year-old Finnish director formed Gentle Film Production Company with producer Rikhard Matalalampi last year.

More Stories on : Cinema | Events | Children & Parenting | Andhra Pradesh

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Valo, 9, who dared the Czar regime

Mumbai film fest on Feb 3-9

India fascinates Spaniards