Flame Top (1980) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language

1980 · 155 mins · Finnish

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Directed by

Pirjo Honkasalo, Pekka Lehto

Starring

Asko Sarkola, Esko Salminen, Rea Mauranen, Esa Suvilehto, Esko Pesonen, Soli Labbart

Finnish novelist and revolutionary Maiju Lassila (Asko Sarkola), born 1868, is portrayed in this biographical drama. After a brief look at his youth, the film details his paradoxically reclusive adult life: a stint as a businessman in St. Petersburg, participation in the assassination of a high‑ranking Czarist, and a hurried return to Finland. In a remote village he teaches school to sustain his true vocation as a writer, living near poverty while concealing his identity with many pseudonyms.