The Conflict series divides opinion – here are the five most controversial themes in the series

The Golden Venla awards will be presented today, Friday. Conflict, directed by Aku Louhimäki, has received several nominations. The topicality of the series is seen as both a merit and a shortcoming.

MTV3’s original series *Conflict* has been picking up nominations for television’s Golden Venla awards, and the creators are among the frontrunners for tonight’s gala.

The series is also nominated for the Venla for Best Drama Series.

The six-part *Conflict* is about NATO Finland. At the beginning of the series, a foreign power invades Finland on Midsummer Eve in Hankoniemi. The series follows the military operation that follows the invasion.

Despite its popularity, *Konflikti* has received mixed reception. It has been both praised and criticized on the same grounds.

1. The reality of the conflict gives you chills, even fear

The last few weeks’ events in the Baltic Sea have startled the viewers of the *Konflikti* series. The series feels like it’s getting up close and personal. The anchor scraping the bottom of the Eagle S ship and the hastily convened meeting of NATO countries in Finland signal that a real conflict is also possible.

Aku Louhimies says that he rejected some ideas during the scripting stage, so that too close to real events would not jump out at the eyes. The director says in Seiska magazine that reality began to resonate with the story so much that he removed elements from the script.

– One of these was the cutting of the gas pipe by the attacker. It seemed appropriate to remove it, so that the story does not copy reality too much, Louhimies tells Seiska.

At the time of the script work for the series, in the early autumn of 2022, an unknown person had damaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea.

\”I made the mistake of watching the TV series Konflikti. Vomiting militarism, in rallying English.”

2. The presence of the armed forces has delighted, but also confused

Director Aku Louhimies has made it clear in interviews that it would have been impossible to make the *Conflict* series without the defense forces.

The army received the latest military equipment for the *Konflikt*. In addition, the annual exercises of the Defense Forces have been baked into the drama of the series.

– It’s just as cheap to show a fighter flying in the sky for three or ten seconds.

In Kinnusen’s opinion, the latter option makes the narration plodding, but long images can increase the duration of the episodes of the series and save money.

Aku Louhimies has assured that at least taxpayers’ money has not been burned for long Hornet pictures.

– The hornets haven’t flown because of us. They have flown other exercises and we have been allowed to film them. They left when they left and performed their own tasks. We documented what we could, the director assures MTV news.

Louhimies also denies in Ruutuväki magazine that the purpose of the series was to present the equipment of the Defense Forces or to act as a demonstration of the army’s strength. According to the director, marketing and advertising are done in a completely different way.

3. Were conditions and money compromised in the filming of the series?

Despite the help of the Defense Forces, the financial discipline described in Long Play’s story was obviously also familiar to the creators of the *Konflikti* series. I saw this despite the fact that it was an unusually large-scale production in Finland.

In the fall of 2023, Yle told about the problems during the filming of the series. At that time, Yle interviewed six people who took part in filming the series, two of whom appear in the article under their own names.

According to the interviewees, the problem was, among other things, working conditions, living conditions and poor advance planning. The interviewees said that the working days were so long that such a thing should not be accepted in this class of production.

Those who worked in the production of the *Konflikti* series were also of the opinion that the working time was not enough to do the work and overtime was prohibited. Scheduling problems and last-minute changes also received reprimands from the staff.

According to Aku Louhimiehe, the shooting schedules did not change more than usual.

4. The conflict has been praised for having a female political leadership in Finland – at the same time, the portrayal of women in the series has been criticised

In the *Konflikti* series in Finland, the president of the republic is a young woman.

And when the situation gets tense, the woman is the one who bursts into tears, Virtanen writes.

– Otherwise, it’s a good series, but it’s that really attitude-based description of the president, whose role model is clearly Marin, that disturbs me.

Today, however, women are at the top of power and in the service of the army. The president of the series is ultimately forced to balance national security and personal loss.

5. The critics sobered up, the public watched

*Konflikt* has had a record number of audiences. Already the first episode gathered 1.2 million viewers. According to Finnpanel, which statistics viewer numbers, the series became the second most watched program in Finland last year.

Although *Konflikti* received a somewhat dull reception from several critics, the viewers were very interested in it. A Finnish drama series reaching the top of the most watched programs of the whole year is a huge achievement.

The series has been sold to many European countries, such as France, Poland, Spain and the Baltic countries. The series has also been given to a Ukrainian television channel free of charge.

Yle will follow the red carpet of the Kultainen Venla gala in a live Areena broadcast starting at 5 p.m., and the gala itself will be followed moment by moment on the Yle.fi website.