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About the Film

In November 1939, when Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union, no one expected that this tiny nation could resist the largest military force in the world. And no one anticipated that 1939 would be one of the coldest winters in recorded history, what historians have called a frozen hell.

Filmed on the old battlefields in Finland and Russia, Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia dramatically depicts the intensity of the warfront and the homefront. Outnumbered and outgunned, Finns knew this war was not about changing the borders between nations; it was a total war for the very existence of a people. The Winter War involved all of Finland’s people - including its women who organized themselves into a unique corps called Lotta Svärd. Their fierce resistance changed the course of World War II and saved a democracy. Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia is a timeless story of courage against all odds, of a people united to preserve their freedom.