The Eternal Road

Jussi Ketola, a Finnish emigrant to the United States, returns to Finland with his family to escape the Great Depression. Finland remains deeply divided after the 1917 Civil War between the Whites and Reds. This homeward move sets the stage for a precarious life under shifting political currents.

In 1931, local Lapua Movement members abduct Jussi from his home with the intent to force him across the border to Soviet Russia, but they decide to execute him instead. The act reflects the era's rising right-wing intimidation of reformists and pacifists. The event marks a violent intrusion into his newly returned life.

Jussi escapes the abduction but is wounded by a gunshot as he reaches the border. The injury complicates his attempt to flee into Soviet territory. The moment underscores the peril faced by dissidents under nationalist pressure.

He is taken to a hospital in Petrozavodsk, the capital of Soviet Karelia, where he begins to recover from his wound. The stay ties him to the Soviet system and marks a shift in his fate. His condition necessitates new arrangements and oversight.

Forced to take a new name — Jussi Kari — he is instructed to prove he is not an anti-Soviet spy by reporting to Kallonen, an NKVD official, about suspected anti-Soviet activity in his new community. The demand binds him to ongoing surveillance and political tests. This marks a turning point from escape to entry into a controlled system.

Jussi settles into Hopea, a kolkhoz founded by Finnish Americans and Finnish Canadians who migrated to Karelia to help build the 'worker's paradise' of the Soviet Union. The community embodies an experiment in socialist farming and multinational settlement. Life at Hopea becomes the new normal for him and his new circle.

Despite his longing to be with his family, he is prevented from returning to Finland and must contend with ongoing pressure from the NKVD's Kallonen. The state imposes constraints that sever his ties to the homeland. The restriction anchors him within the Soviet system and its surveillance.

Stalin's persecutions intensify, and residents of Hopea, including Jussi's new family, fall victim to the Great Purge of 1937. The crackdown demonstrates the reach of political terror into even experimental settlements. The community's fate shifts from hopeful to perilous within a single decade.

Jussi is spared from execution but is put to forced labor at another collective farm. The purge spares him on paper while forcing him into harsh, labor-intensive duties. His survival is contingent on adapting to grit and endurance within the Soviet system.

Kallonen, an NKVD official, comes to interrogate him, pressing him to prove loyalty and reveal anti-Soviet activities. Jussi's response evolves as the pressure mounts. The interrogation intensifies the cat-and-mouse dynamic between dissidence and surveillance.

Jussi attacks Kallonen, takes his car, and makes a perilous dash toward the border. The act demonstrates his resolve to reclaim autonomy and exit the repressive environment. The escape underscores the perilous chess game between the individual and the state.

Jussi reaches the Finnish border and returns to his Finnish family, reuniting after years of danger and displacement. The journey closes a long loop of escape, adaptation, and resistance. The ending marks a return to homeland ties despite the wounds of the Soviet era.