The sauna scene and Anni's ryme

She was doing her version of "eenie, meenie, mynie, moe". You'll notice, though, that she ended up on the guy that she checked out the most before starting the rhyme. I doubt that was a coincidence.


"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."

All of you are correct. Anni's rhyme was her means of stalling for time as she made her selection of sexual partner. But it was a no brainer. She was already inclined towards the young Finnish soldier. He was young, tall, husky, possessed of a boyish charm and impish humor, and I suppose, he would be considered cute. (how should I know, I'm a guy!) The Soviet captain was a nice guy, humane (like the Finn soldier and Anni), and forthright (not a commie bad guy) but too old for Anni. He would have been okay for Anni only if the younger Finnish dude wasn't around.

But at the movie's end, Anni gives the Russian captain a mercy f--k, more to keep herself comfortable and warm after an arduous night of shamanistic ritual chanting to save the Finn's life. The sex really makes the Russian guy's day, and both men depart Anni's farm with big smiles on their faces.

The movie worked because all three characters, Anni, the Finnish soldier student, the honest Russian captain, were of similar personality and moral leaning. They three were all nice people, humane, and caring about others. None of the three seemed to have any negative or mean streaks in them, which made this movie work. Sure it was a unlikely long shot, but it had to be so in order for all three characters to bond.

POSTNOTE: Odd that the film's producers introduced the mythology of shamanism ritualism as Anni calls upon her ancestral skills to prevent the Finn student soldiers's soul from crossing over into death. Ironically, Jewish and Christian mythology supposes that at the moment of death, guardian angels or guardian spirits appear to guide the decease's soul to Heaven, if that is where the decedant is heading. In fact there's an 19th century child's rhyme that goes like this: " Four angels to my bed; four angels around my head; one to watch and one to pray, and two to bear my soul away. "

Agreed.

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They blew up Congress!!! HAHAHA!

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Another memory...
...during the sauna scene, as we look at Anni as she coyly gazes at each naked man, the scene's lighting and Anni's young face without her usual hat-she looks uncomfortably like a 12-year old girl to me. My logical brain reminded me that the actress is 22 to 23 years old at the time of filming but still....she looks way too young like a pre-teen or early teen leering at two naked studs in the sauna.