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Heart of a Lion

Play trailer Poster for Heart of a Lion 2013 1h 39m Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 72% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
A Finnish neo-Nazi (Peter Franzén) begins a complicated love affair with a woman (Laura Birn) who has a biracial son.

Critics Reviews

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Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 08/23/2019
While Heart of a Lion can't quite avoid being labeled a social awareness film, it's at least a potently engaging one. Go to Full Review
Sarah Gopaul Digital Journal 10/26/2018
In Heart of a Lion (a.k.a. Leijonasydän), the division is an innate one that begins to tear the protagonist apart. Go to Full Review
Robert Koehler Cinema Scope 10/02/2017
At the heart of Heart of a Lion is a liberal fantasy of conversion from deep-seated bigotry to progressive tolerance driven by the power of love. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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12/10/2016 Can love save us from an extremist ideology? That's the question addressed by "Heart of A Lion", four times nominated to the Jussi Awards (the Finnish equivalent of the BAFTA) in 2014. In addition to the actors' amazing performances (Peter Franzén is superb), the movie sensitively shows the trouble in having a normal life when we want to be an active representative to an ideology like nazism. Despite some tough moments and Dome Karukoski's accuracy to show how this extremely violent environment is, there is room for light in this Finnish movie. Little by little, Teppo finds his humanity and humbly realizes the limits of far-right ideologies that are indeed quite popular in Northern countries. Even though Finland is going to celebrate the first century of its independence, immigration is still rare and attachment to the roots and the national history are essential. Although the director says that "Heart of a Lion" could have been set anywhere, the story is the more legitimate and realist in Finland. This film sends us a beautiful moral: complicity, wiseness and reason can win against ignorance, exclusion and violence that, as shown by the movie, are synonyms of decay and degeneration instead of progress and growth. Full review on our blog Los Indiscretos : https://losindiscretos.org/english/heart-of-a-lion-2013-dome-karukoski See more 01/10/2016 Impressive. Thought provoking, especially in the current "climate". Brilliant cast all around, cars and grenades included. See more 07/31/2015 Generalizing and stupidity are killing others. Growing up of one Nazi fool in a hard way, lose some to win some. See more 04/17/2014 This was a good watch, and interesting too. only thing they needed voice double as reading subtitles is LONG.COM See more gareth d 03/26/2014 Somewhat reminscent of American History X, but not as hard hitting, and a little cheesy/predictable in places. Worth a watch though. See more 03/23/2014 Proof that Finnish movies can be great. See more Read all reviews
Heart of a Lion

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Movie Info

Synopsis A Finnish neo-Nazi (Peter Franzén) begins a complicated love affair with a woman (Laura Birn) who has a biracial son.
Director
Dome Karukoski
Producer
Jessica Ask, Aleksi Bardy, Emma Åkesdotter-Ronge
Screenwriter
Aleksi Bardy
Production Co
Helsinki Filmi Oy
Genre
Drama, Romance
Original Language
Finnish
Runtime
1h 39m