The Answer is an interesting social-historical document with a slightly syrupy Romeo and Juliet -twist. An industrialist and his head shop steward start to believe in the possibility of reconciliation as social tensions threaten the community, while the industrialist’s daughter finds the shop steward’s charm a potential instrument in bringing the workers and bourgeoisie closer to each other. Drama is built from a classical juxtaposition. On the left side of the protagonists representing the good is a Communist with his mantra-like repetition of his poisonous doctrines – and also with an eye on the shop steward’s job. On the right-wing side a ruckus is being made by the factory’s chief engineer, who wants to keep the workers in their place.
The film came out of the in its time fashionable MRA (Moral Re-Armament) movement: they aimed for a new kind of ethical illumination of mankind, where social and racial differences would not hinder the wheels of economy. Viljo Lampela was one of the Finnish apostles of this ideology. He not only directed and wrote the film, but also produced and edited it as well as playing the lead role. Most of the other actors were amateurs.
The film might be of interest to the people of Mänttä for the special reason that it was partly shot in their hometown. The scenes in the industrialist’s apartment give us a sneak peek of the interiors of both Honkahovi and Joenniemi in the early 1950s. (Pauli Sivonen)
Language: Finnish, subtitles: Swedish