FAREWELL, MR. PRESIDENT
(JÄÄHYVÄISET PRESIDENTILLE)
Dir. Matti Kassila, 1987.
Finland. 87 min.
In Finnish with English subtitles.

Asko Mertanen is a working waiter who is obsessed with two things: the corrupt government’s unfair treatment of the country, and guns. Mertanen’s obsessions combine into a deadly self-assigned edict: to kill the President of Finland. Like any well engineered plan, Mertanen builds to his ultimate act by testing his weapons, his accuracy, and his ability to take a life. A confluence of Mertanen’s savviness as well as a serendipitously timed murder of another waitress lead police detectives Hanhivaara and Kairamo on a confused chase to stop him before he achieves his final goal.

A late work for one of Finland’s most prominent filmmakers of the 1950s and 60s, Matti Kassila. With a screenplay written with his son, Taavi Kassila, and based on the novel of the same name by Pentti Kirstilä. The film’s president, played by accomplished Finnish actor Tarmo Manni, is never mentioned by name but bears a striking resemblance to politician, and Finland’s longest serving president, Urho Kekkonen. Who during his extensive term consolidated government power to the presidency and developed a cult of personality. How about that?