Geography of Fear-Movie Review-Finland Movie

The Geography of Fear

Dir. Auli Mantila
Finland, 2001
35mm 95 min.
Finnish with English subtitles

Based on Anja Snellman's controversial bestseller, Auli Mantila's follow-up to The Collector won best screenplay at Cannes in 2001 and continues on The Collector's obsession with female violence.

The Geography of Fear opens with the investigation of a drowned man drifting ashore near Helsinki. Oili Lyyra is the forensic dentist assisting in the case who discovers that the man's death may be connected to her sister's new circle of friends -- a group of radical female vigilantes.

In both cases, groups of characters are set at odds, and events play out to inevitable, violent, and gripping conclusions. In place of salvation, which never arrives, we have ongoing tribal warfare between men and women, or between order and chaos. Neither side fully wins. At best, characters have their eyes opened a little, begin to see what their opponents see.

The most tragic characters remain blind and singular. In a public statement about the film, Mantila concluded that "The Geography of Fear is a story about the choices of an individual and about the individual's right to make choices. It is also a story about the conflicts arising from an one person's decision to use that right. The violent events in the film could happen when women get tired of yielding and tolerating."

Kier-La Janisse

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