By all accounts prolific Finnish writer Mika Waltari suffered from manic depression and should he have seen the Hollywood version of his great historical novel 'The Egyptian' his condition could only have been exacerbated. By way of contrast his contribution to the crime genre, the Inspector Kalmu Trilogy, has been brought to the screen with tremendous flair and imagination by fellow Finn Matti Kassila and features one of his country's most respected artistes Joel Rinne as the bluff detective, made up to bear a remarkable resemblance to Joseph Stalin which may or may not have been coincidental.
The second in the trilogy, it is the first to be filmed and the modus operandi of the 'murder mystery' is on full display here with its twists and turns, red herrings galore and an ensemble of deliciously diverse characters, some of whom verge on the caricature. Kassila has choreographed his players well, the pacing is spot on and Osmo Lindeman's score suitably bizarre.
It has been voted by Finnish critics and journalists as Finland's greatest film but this viewer is not sufficiently well up on that country's cinema to judge whether this status be justified.
This inventive, darkly humorous pastiche is eminently watchable however and has the advantage of being sub-titled. How best to describe it? The phrase 'Agatha Christie on steroids' springs to mind.
