Finland’s Oscar Entry ‘The Squirrel’ Gets Aki Kaurismäki’s Praise: ‘Like 2001: A Space Odyssey,’ but More Human
Markus Lehmusruusu’s futuristic drama “The Squirrel” has been selected as Finland’s submission for the international feature category at the Oscars, and the film already has an endorsement from one of the country’s best-known filmmakers.
Director Aki Kaurismäki called the movie a masterpiece, according to Lehmusruusu, and compared it with Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The key difference, in Kaurismäki’s view, was the film’s emphasis on humanism.
“He said it’s like ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ but better because it’s full of humanism,” Lehmusruusu told Variety.
The director hopes the film can work on more than one level. While it is rooted in humanism, he also wants its story to question the tendency of people to place themselves above everything else.
A Squirrel Appears in a World Without Nature
“The Squirrel” is set in a sterile future where nature and animals have seemingly disappeared.
Its central character, Pasi, designs artificial pets. His carefully controlled world changes when he unexpectedly encounters a real squirrel — potentially the last one left in existence.
Pasi takes the animal home, but the squirrel does not belong there.
It belongs in the wild.
That encounter becomes the starting point for a story about humanity’s relationship with nature, technology and its own instincts.
The film stars Miro Lopperi, known for “Codename: Annika,” Mimosa Willamo of “Sisu,” and Hannu-Pekka Björkman, who appears in the upcoming “Red Snow.”
The movie was recently shown at Fantastic Fest. International sales are being handled by REinvent International Sales, while production comes from Bufo, Pallas Film, Volya Films and Zentropa Sweden.
Why ‘The Squirrel’ Is a Risky Oscar Submission
For Lehmusruusu, Finland’s selection is particularly meaningful because “The Squirrel” does not fit neatly into one genre.
“It’s a big risk to make a film like that, which doesn’t fit within one genre,” he said.
The filmmaker said he prefers stories that come from an instinctive, personal place rather than trying to determine in advance what category or style might work.
“It’s about telling stories that come from the heart without overthinking where they ‘fit’,” Lehmusruusu said.
He has also become increasingly interested in films that explore the inner worlds of their characters.
“Cinema can convey that so easily,” he said. “It’s like a magic trick.”
Technology, Nature and Human Instincts
The film explores what happens when technology allows people to exercise almost complete control over their bodies and surroundings.
Lehmusruusu questions whether replacing nature with artificial versions of it could ultimately leave something important missing.
That idea also extends into sexuality, which plays a significant role in the film.
The director connects the subject to concerns about younger generations becoming increasingly detached from physical intimacy and bodily experiences. In his view, sexuality represents one of the most primal forces that remains closely connected to human nature.
The characters initially understand their animalistic urges as something negative. But as the story develops, they begin to feel the pull of those instincts.
The squirrel becomes a catalyst for that change.
Its presence forces the characters to look beyond the controlled environments they have become accustomed to and consider what has been lost.
Why the Squirrel Is More Than a Cute Animal
Lehmusruusu deliberately avoided turning the squirrel into a conventional cinematic animal character.
He points out that squirrels may appear cute, but they are also rodents capable of damaging homes and attacking smaller birds.
That contradiction was important to him.
The filmmaker wanted to explore the way humans project emotions and personalities onto animals. Rather than giving the squirrel human-like expressions, the production chose to let the animal behave as naturally as possible.
The approach also reinforces one of the film’s central ideas: people often take nature for granted until it disappears.
When something ordinary is suddenly gone, its value becomes much clearer.
‘The Consequences of Indifference’
“The Squirrel” does not rely on a conventional villain.
Instead, Lehmusruusu focuses on what he describes as “the consequences of indifference.”
The people in the film may have good intentions, but their choices gradually create consequences they did not anticipate.
That includes questions about what people are willing to sacrifice while trying to protect their families, communities or society.
The filmmaker deliberately wanted to move away from the familiar dystopian science-fiction formula in which an obvious evil force is responsible for everything going wrong.
His darker idea is that people do not necessarily have to be evil to create devastating results.
They can simply make bad choices.
As Lehmusruusu puts it, humanity is responsible for many of the problems it faces.
Finland’s Unusual Oscar Tradition
Finland has previously selected films that do not necessarily conform to conventional Oscar expectations, including “Euthanizer,” “Family Time” and the comedy “100 Liters of Gold.”
The country has received only one nomination in the international feature category so far, for Kaurismäki’s “The Man Without a Past.”
That history gives Kaurismäki’s response to “The Squirrel” an added connection to Finland’s Oscar tradition.
Lehmusruusu is now developing projects that are closer to naturalistic filmmaking, but he remains interested in stories that depict characters’ internal experiences.
A Dark Story That Still Wants to Be Fun
Despite its dystopian setting and philosophical themes, Lehmusruusu does not want “The Squirrel” to feel relentlessly bleak.
He wants audiences to find the movie entertaining, funny and joyful even if they do not immediately engage with its larger themes.
The film’s darker implications are intended to emerge gradually.
For Lehmusruusu, one squirrel is enough to make his characters question the controlled world they have built around themselves.
And that small encounter becomes a much larger question about what happens when humanity tries to replace nature rather than live alongside it.
