MARIA'S PARADISE (2019) Thriller Drama (1h 50m)

Maria's Paradise (Finnish: Marian paratiisi) is a 2019 Finnish drama film directed by Zaida Bergroth. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.

Big-screen treatment of a controversial Finnish preacher who claimed she could communicate with the dead

True events are smoothly shaped into an intriguing, well-heeled period drama in Maria’s Paradise (Marian paratiisi). The story of charismatic Finnish cult leader, the “sleeping preacher” Maria Åkerblom, and one of her admirers is the springboard for an engrossing exploration of the tensions between blind faith and the hunger for independence.

The confident storytelling and polished craftsmanship should ensure a welcome at festivals and markets where Åkerblom’s story is known, although it may prove a little too languid and measured to make its presence felt in a wider theatrical arena.

A fictional imagining of real events

Topped and tailed by blurry black and white images of the real Åkerblom, who died in 1981, Maria’s Paradise points out that it is a fictional imagining of real events. Dubbed the “Angel Of Heaven”, Akerblom (Pihla Viitala) gained renown as someone who could communicate with the dead and receive messages from God in her sleep.

By 1927, she has moved to a vast country estate in Kokkola, Finland were she presides over a community of followers. There are echoes of The Handmaid’s Tale or Midsommar in a rural retreat with its own rules and rituals.

Initially, it seems as if director Zaida Begroth is intent on immersing us in the gothic trappings of the location. The shadowy corridors, glowing candlelight and eerie silences all add to the sense of an old dark house where anything could happen. The ominous throb of Timo Kaukolpami and Tuomo Puranen’s score encourages us to anticipate trouble in paradise.

Instead, Bergroth and screenwriters Anna Viitala and Jan Forsström place the emphasis on the changing dynamic between two women. The orphaned teenager Salome (Satu-Tuuli Karhu) is one of Maria’s most fervent admirers. She worships Maria as a surrogate mother and alluringly bohemian figure who looks like “some foreign movie star”.

Maria’s extravagant wardrobe, Louise Brooks-style bob and cigarette holder make her seem like the embodiment of Jazz Age glamour.

By contrast, Salome is a sheltered, innocent, who dresses plainly and never questions the world around her. Satu-Tuuli Karhu plays her with a wide-eyed look of unconditional devotion. The mere fact of bring chosen to brush Maria’s hair is enough to make her beam with pleasure.

Throughout the film, we learn of the life that Maria had built for herself with partner Eino (Tommi Korpela) and how it is based on foundations that are only likely to crumble. There seems little doubt that Maria is a charlatan but she seems able to fool most of her followers most of the time. She merely has to mention the inconvenience of her detractors to spark events that lead to a trial for attempted murder.

Maria’s fall is witnessed most acutely through the disillusion of Salome who finds a friend in 17 year-old streetwalker Marin (Saga Sarkola). When Marin is attacked she comes to Salome for help and is accepted by the community. It is Marin’s fresh perspective, affection and companionship that slowly open Salome’s eyes to how deluded she may have been.

Sensitively handled in the way it avoids sensationalism or melodrama, Maria’s Paradise never allows us to fully understand who Maria was or why she did what she did. Salome is a more fully realised, sympathetic figure and that creates a sense of imbalance in a story that is well-crafted and well-rounded without becoming entirely satisfying.

Maria Åkerblom: Pihla Viitala

Eino Vartiovaara: Tommi Korpela

Saga: Elina Knihtilä

Salome: Satu Tuuli Karhu

Malin: Saga Sarkola

Finnish title: Marian paratiisi

Directed by: Zaida Bergroth

Starring: Pihla Viitala

Screenplay: Anna Viitala, Jan Forsström

Producers: Daniel Kuitunen, Kaisla Viitala

Release date: 6 September 2019 (TIFF)

Running time: 110 minutes

Countries of origin: Finland and Estonia

Language: Finnish

Production Companies: Komeetta, Stellar Film, Kaiho Republic

In her latest film, director Zaida Bergroth has tackled a subject that is mindboggling: Maria Åkerblom was a mysterious, fascinating, wild and creepy woman, says Pihla Viitala, who plays the main part.

DIRECTOR ZAIDA BERGROTH, who rose to world fame from the movie MIAMI , is currently filming her latest movie in Estonia.

The top Finnish actresses Pihla Viitala, Tommi Korpela, Elina Knihtilä and Satu Tuuli Karhu, who rose in her career like a rocket, will be included.

The group is in a good mood, even though the topic is tough. Bergroth says that he wanted to make a film about the cult leader Maria Åkerblom, who was both a divine being and a terrible person.

"Our story revolves around the year 1927. At that time, there were, among other things, attempted murders and false lights in court. Maria and the others fled from Kokkola to Helsinki in the direction of foreign countries, says the director about his film, which will premiere in 2019." Zaida Bergroth said.

Bergroth also emphasizes that Maria's paradise film is based on reality and unique in its wildness.

"For me, Åkerblom's character is contradictory and fascinating. The film is about a charismatic leader and his questionable followers. Even today, such patterns are relevant" Bergroth stresses.

WHEN the director started thinking about the performer of the female lead, he immediately thought of Pihla Viitala. Bergroth says that he immediately found a suitable way to cooperate with Viitala.

"I had heard stories about Maria since I was a child, because my childhood home was located in Meilahti near Villa Toivola, where Maria lived. To me, he has always been fascinating, mysterious, wild and creepy" Pihla Viitala, 35, describes.

MARIA ÅKERBLOM (1898-1981) was a charm preacher around whom her own cult grew. Coming from poor circumstances, Maria quickly gained followers, but also opponents. He was sentenced to 15 years in the penitentiary for attempted murder and perjury. Åkerblom also escaped three times from prison, which was also reported in the newspapers. In the end, Åkerblom served the sentence for eight years and after that he moved to Villa Toivola in Meilahti.

"I remember a picture from my childhood where Maria is walking outside with two lions." Pihla Viitala says.

IN THE STORY, VIITALA is also fascinated by how someone makes people give up everything for the sake of their leader.

"I would believe that after our civil war, people were as if lost and they were inclined to different things. This is how some people ended up noticing Maria."

Viitala, who moved to Finland with her husband five years ago, now says that moving to her home country was the right decision. The couple has a little five-year-old daughter.

"It's been really nice for us, and yes, moving back to Finland was the right decision," says the actor, who has worked a lot in Finland and abroad.

Viitala says that she accepted the role of Maria because Åkerblom's character in the script is extremely fascinating and powerful.

"I was also fascinated by the way he manipulated people. Maria's story is just as well today, because sectarianism is not tied to time or place," she reasons.

Viitala prepared for her role by reading a book about Maria and works about other sects and their members.

"I also watched documentaries on the subject," says the actor who has worked a lot abroad.

After Bergroth's film, Pihla Viitala has an international project.

THE SCREENPLAY FOR DIRECTOR Zaida Bergroth's film was written by Anna Viitala and Jan Forström. The text also has a role for the young nanny Salome, played by Satu Tuuli Karhu, 23.

As the story progresses, Salome's relationship with the leader of the sect develops and the nurse enters the inner circle.

"I wanted the role so much that I cried for joy when I got it. Yes, this is the most challenging work of my life so far, because the story is so interesting and is based on real events," says Satu Tuuli Karhu, who is still studying at Teatterikorkeakoulu for another year.

Karhu also praises his co-stars and says he feels like he's in college because he gets to act with Viitala, Knihtilä and Korpela.

THE AWARD-WINNING TOMMI KORPELA, WHO PLAYS EINO VARTIOVAARA, says that he did not think for a moment when the director asked him to join.

"I play a man shaken by the civil war, who went to see Mary's sermon and was ecstatic. Little by little, he also got into Maria's family. A relationship also developed between Maria and Eino, who took care of her financial affairs," Tommi says.

Korpela says that his role is not very big, but important.

"Maria's story has shaken me so much that I was interested in it and how quickly people are made fun of and then the matter itself is forgotten. Suddenly, the people from the block give all their money to their leader, and at some point the guns come along," Tommi points out.

In Tommi's opinion, in Maria's story, good and evil come to the surface brutally and it shocks people's minds.

"It has been wonderful to be able to work with Elina at the same time. We haven't acted in the same movie for a long time," says Korpela, who is going fishing after filming, referring to his wife Elina Knihtilä.

User Review: 3/10

"No way in hell they would be listening to jazz"

"Unrealistic to portray these folks in a religious cult listening to jazz music as they would've almost certainly would've thought it evil. They would've listened to hymns or marches in reality.

It's lame how directors always assume EVERYONE in that time listened to jazz. It's like saying everyone liked Rap in the 80s or everyone liked Grunge in the 90s. Irresponsible storytelling."