The Missile Ohjus

Synopsis

In an absurd concatenation of events, single mother Niina (Oona Airola) begins working as an archivist at a local paper. She is drawn inexorably into an investigation when a Soviet nuclear missile crashes near her Lapland town. International reporters and handsome strangers descend on the area, and Niina strikes up a relationship with Kai, a fighter pilot who knows a thing or two about the missile.

When her mother says that Finland is a country troubled by a sense of inferiority and unworthiness, Niina knows the feeling. Mistreated by her ex-husband, judged by her family, and dismissed by all with whom she comes in contact, this single mother has never learned to set boundaries. And Miia Tervo’s The Missile knows something about boundaries — specifically, how to shatter them. Based on an actual incident in 1984, The Missile constantly blurs the generic lines between political thriller, newspaper drama, domestic melodrama, and romantic comedy. Confidently walking this tightrope, writer/director Tervo delivers a moving essay on the importance of  self-worth and the extraordinary power of simply saying “no.”