MIDNIGHT SILENCE - Nordic Noir / Crime Thriller, setting in Sodankylä
🎬 Title: Midnight Silence
Genre: Nordic Noir / Crime Thriller / Political Drama
Setting: Sodankylä, Lapland – midsummer, when the sun never sets.
Tone: Cold, tense, morally ambiguous — think The Killing (Forbrydelsen) meets Sicario set in the Arctic Circle.
Logline
When a violent clash between a Russian mob cell and a neo-Nazi gang threatens to ignite chaos in the remote Lapland town of Sodankylä, a weary Finnish Security Intelligence officer must uncover a conspiracy that ties both groups to the same source — a secret that could shatter Finland’s fragile neutrality.
Main Characters
ELINA KORHONEN (38)
Lead — SUPO intelligence officer, formerly army intelligence. Calm, relentless, and haunted by a failed op in Karelia. Known for her cold precision, but she’s emotionally burned out.
MARKUS VIRTANEN (45)
Local Sodankylä police chief. Knows everyone in town. Pragmatic but compromised — secretly taking bribes from one side.
ALEKSEI MALINOV (50)
Leader of the Russian mob crew operating out of Murmansk. Smuggles weapons and rare earth minerals across the Finnish border. Brutal but calculating.
VILLE “VINNI” HÄRKÖNEN (28)
Charismatic skinhead leader. Claims to fight for Finnish purity, but his gang is secretly being armed by the same Russian network he thinks he opposes.
ANNI KORHONEN (14)
Elina’s daughter, visiting for the weekend — becomes unintentionally entangled in the violence, forcing Elina to choose between duty and family.
Plot Overview
ACT I — The Long Day
-
It’s midsummer in Sodankylä: sun never sets, tourists fill the streets, and the town prepares for the Midnight Sun Film Festival.
-
Elina Korhonen arrives from Helsinki with a small SUPO team. They’re investigating rumors of illegal arms moving through Lapland.
-
A local drunk fisherman finds a mutilated body under the bridge — tattooed with neo-Nazi symbols but carrying Russian cigarettes and a military coin.
-
Tensions rise: the local skinheads blame Russians for “invading” their turf; the Russians see a message from Finnish extremists.
-
Elina suspects a deeper connection — the murder wasn’t random; it was a warning.
ACT II — Crossfire
-
Surveillance reveals both groups getting weapons from the same middleman — a ghost known as “The Broker,” operating under the cover of a mining company.
-
Elina’s daughter Anni sneaks out to meet a local boy and witnesses a deal between the gangs.
-
A brutal night raid: SUPO and local police intervene too late — one of Elina’s agents is killed, and evidence vanishes.
-
Markus’s loyalty begins to crack; he admits he’s been paid by both sides to “look the other way.”
-
The Broker turns out to be a former Finnish intelligence operative Elina once worked with — presumed dead in Karelia.
ACT III — The White Fire
-
A confrontation at the old military depot outside town: Russians plan to trade uranium samples for stolen NATO intel.
-
The skinheads attack, unaware they’re being used as a distraction.
-
In the chaos, Elina faces her ex-ally, who reveals the real motive: destabilize Finnish security from within, to force the country’s “dependence” on Russia.
-
Explosions tear through the depot as Elina rescues Anni — snow ash and sun glare merge into a blinding haze.
-
The operation is technically a “success,” but SUPO buries the truth to avoid diplomatic scandal.
-
Final scene: Elina sits alone by the river under the midnight sun, watching the light refuse to fade.
Themes
-
Moral ambiguity: every side believes they’re protecting their country.
-
Identity and loyalty: What does “Finnish neutrality” mean when the world around you isn’t neutral?
-
Isolation and light: the endless daylight contrasts the moral darkness beneath it.
-
Family vs. duty: a mother torn between truth and safety.
Visual Style
-
Muted blues, greys, and pale yellows of the Lapland sun.
-
Long static shots, minimal dialogue, deep sound design (wind, insects, distant traffic).
-
Shots of desolate roads, rusted military remnants, empty forests — the beauty of decay.
🎬 MIDNIGHT SILENCE
Written by: [Kalifornia Jani - Jani Apukka]
Genre: Nordic Noir / Crime Thriller
Setting: Sodankylä, Finnish Lapland — Midsummer, when the sun never sets.
LOGLINE
A Finnish Security Intelligence officer faces a violent collision between a Russian mob and a neo-Nazi gang in the small Lapland town of Sodankylä, uncovering a conspiracy that threatens to shatter Finland’s fragile neutrality.
ACT I
FADE IN:
EXT. ARCTIC SKY – NIGHT / DAY / NIGHT
(The Midsummer sun. Hanging just above the horizon. Eternal light.)
A VOICE hums faintly under the wind — distant, haunting. The sound of a yoik — Sami throat singing.
SUPER: SODANKYLÄ, FINLAND — 200 kilometers above the Arctic Circle.
EXT. TOWN BRIDGE – 2:03 A.M.
Still daylight. A thin mist coils off the Kitinen River.
A FISHERMAN (50s, drunk, alone) reels in his line. The lure catches on something heavy. He tugs.
A human arm breaks the surface — pale, tattooed with a black sun symbol.
He stumbles backward, slips, falls into the mud.
FISHERMAN
(vomiting)
Vittu perkele...
He crawls to shore, stares at the arm, trembling.
EXT. LAPLAND POLICE STATION – MORNING
The white sun has barely shifted. Small-town police station, flags unmoving.
CHIEF MARKUS VIRTANEN (45) steps out with coffee, lights a cigarette. He looks tired beyond his years.
A uniformed CONSTABLE approaches.
CONSTABLE
They found more. Downriver.
MARKUS
(sighs)
How much more?
CONSTABLE
Half a man. Maybe less.
Markus crushes his cigarette, walks to the cruiser.
EXT. KITINEN RIVERBANK – CONTINUOUS
Crime scene tape flaps in the wind. A body half-covered in silt.
The head is shaved. Swastika tattoos. Burn marks on the chest.
A Russian cigarette pack tucked into the jacket pocket.
Markus stares down.
MARKUS
(to himself)
Another damn ghost from the east.
EXT. SODANKYLÄ AIRFIELD – DAY
A small SUPO plane lands. Dust and sunlight everywhere.
ELINA KORHONEN (38) steps out — Finnish Security Intelligence. Calm, contained, with a soldier’s bearing.
She shades her eyes against the blinding sun.
AARNE LEHTO (30s), SUPO field agent, greets her.
AARNE
Welcome to paradise.
ELINA
(chilly smile)
You call this paradise?
AARNE
Sun never sets. Beer’s cold. Russians everywhere. Depends what you like.
They get into a black SUV.
INT. SUV – MOVING – DAY
They drive through the empty Lapland roads. Pines. Abandoned military structures.
ELINA
Any link to our smuggling case?
AARNE
Possibly. Arms moving from Murmansk to Rovaniemi. The bridge victim— local skinhead, tied to a group called Valkoinen Tuli.
ELINA
White Fire.
(beat)
How poetic.
AARNE
They’ve been clashing with Russians. Last week someone torched a warehouse near the mine.
ELINA
Any witnesses?
AARNE
Just one. A drunk fisherman. Claims he saw “the sun laughing.”
Elina stares out the window. The endless daylight burns through the trees.
EXT. SODANKYLÄ TOWN CENTER – DAY
Tourists fill the square. Festival banners — MIDNIGHT SUN FILM FESTIVAL.
Kids lick ice cream under blinding light. A brass band plays out of tune.
Elina and Aarne pass a row of local militia types — shaved heads, leather jackets, Finnish flag patches.
They watch her car with thinly veiled hostility.
AARNE
Locals say they’re patriots.
We’ve logged them as potential domestic terrorists.
ELINA
Same thing these days.
INT. LOCAL POLICE STATION – DAY
Markus greets Elina with a forced smile.
MARKUS
SUPO in Sodankylä. Must be serious.
ELINA
It is. Where’s the body?
MARKUS
Morgue. What’s Helsinki’s interest?
ELINA
Arms traffic. And possibly espionage.
Markus’s face tightens.
MARKUS
Espionage? Here? We’ve got reindeer and diesel thieves. That’s it.
ELINA
That’s what someone wants you to think.
INT. MORGUE – DAY
Cold light. The body lies on a metal slab.
Elina examines burn marks shaped like a circle — industrial seal marks.
ELINA
Looks like someone branded him.
AARNE
We found this in his pocket.
(holds up a military coin)
Finnish Defense Forces. Discontinued unit.
Elina studies it, her jaw tightening.
ELINA
(quietly)
This isn’t random.
EXT. SMALL HOUSE – EVENING
Elina pulls up outside a rental cabin. Her daughter, ANNI (14), steps out — earbuds, attitude, city clothes.
ANNI
This is it? Looks like the moon.
ELINA
It’s only for the weekend. Stay close.
ANNI
Do you ever stop working?
ELINA
When the sun does.
They share a small, brittle smile.
INT. TOWN BAR – NIGHT (STILL DAYLIGHT)
Markus drinks alone. A shadow falls across his table — ALEKSEI MALINOV (50), thickset, Russian accent.
ALEKSEI
You are a busy man, Chief Virtanen.
MARKUS
I don’t have time for this.
ALEKSEI
You make time. For friends.
He slides an envelope across the table. Markus doesn’t touch it.
ALEKSEI
You keep police away from the depot. Just a few days. Then, nyet problem.
MARKUS
And if I say no?
ALEKSEI
Then you will say nothing again.
Aleksei leaves the bar quietly.
EXT. ABANDONED MINING DEPOT – NIGHT
Rusted machinery. Half buried in gravel and snowmelt.
A group of skinheads unload crates from a van — assault rifles, Russian markings.
VINNI (28), tattooed leader, checks the weapons.
VINNI
(to his men, in Finnish)
These bastards think they can sell us their garbage. Let’s show them what Finnish steel looks like.
They don’t notice a teen girl in the distance — ANNI, filming on her phone, hidden behind rocks.
INT. SUPO SUV – MOVING – NIGHT
Elina gets a call.
AARNE (V.O.)
Another body. East side of town. Same burns.
ELINA
Same symbols?
AARNE (V.O.)
Worse. Someone carved a message.
ELINA
What kind of message?
AARNE (V.O.)
“FINLAND SLEEPS.”
EXT. FIELD OUTSIDE SODANKYLÄ – NIGHT
Blue-grey horizon. Police lights flicker.
Elina arrives, sees the words “FINLAND SLEEPS” carved into the victim’s chest.
Her eyes harden. She looks at the distant depot lights.
ELINA
(to herself)
Not anymore.
FADE OUT.
END OF ACT I
ACT II
FADE IN:
EXT. SODANKYLÄ – MAIN STREET – “NIGHT” (MIDDAY LIGHT)
Pale sun at the horizon. Festival crowds drift past posters. The town looks washed out, like a photograph left in the rain.
ELINA and AARNE walk against the flow, eyes scanning.
AARNE
Uniforms report a van near the depot last night. No plates.
ELINA
Skinheads moving hardware. Or Russians dressing like Finns.
AARNE
Or both, if they share the same supplier.
Elina spots a surveillance camera above a kiosk. A bored CLERK watches them.
ELINA
(in Finnish)
Päivää. Tarvitsemme eilisen kameratallenteet.
(Good day. We need yesterday’s camera footage.)
The clerk shrugs, fumbles for a key.
INT. KIOSK – BACK ROOM – CONTINUOUS
Dusty shelves; a humming DVR. AARNE scrubs through footage: the PLATELESS VAN at 02:12, idling, then turning toward the old road by the mine.
AARNE
Too clean. They know this camera.
ELINA
No one knows every camera.
She points: a reflection on a window across the street — a second angle.
ELINA (CONT’D)
There.
A ghostly silhouette in the reflection: a man with a limp, smoking. The camera catches just enough — scar at the temple.
Elina freezes.
AARNE
You know him?
Elina doesn’t answer.
EXT. WOODED RIDGELINE – AFTERNOON
ANNI hikes with JUSSI (15), a local skater kid. He carries a battered DSLR.
ANNI
You sure it’s safe?
JUSSI
Safer than the festival food.
(glancing at her)
You’re from Helsinki, right?
ANNI
Unfortunately.
They crest the ridge. Below: the ABANDONED MINING DEPOT — rusted conveyors, cracked silos. A small convoy of vehicles sits inside the fence.
JUSSI
They come every weekend, almost. My brother says it’s nothing. But he also thinks snow is a personality.
Anni raises her phone. Zooms in. A RUSSIAN MAN hands a crate to VINNI. They nod, not friendly.
A third figure oversees the exchange — face obscured by a hood — the BROKER.
ANNI
Who’s that?
JUSSI
Dunno. He walks weird. Like one leg’s shorter.
The BROKER limps. The same silhouette from the kiosk reflection.
Anni’s breath shortens. She keeps filming.
INT. LOCAL POLICE STATION – BRIEFING ROOM – LATE AFTERNOON
A map of Sodankylä with pins. MARKUS at the head of the table, Elina and Aarne on either side. Two SUPO AGENTS — RIINA and KALLE — gear up.
ELINA
We hit the depot tonight. Quiet. No sirens. No heroics.
MARKUS
My people aren’t trained for covert ops.
ELINA
Your people keep a perimeter. SUPO goes in.
Markus rubs his eyes; a pulse in his neck, nervous.
MARKUS
What’s the endgame, exactly? Arrest a few cosplaying patriots with bad tattoos? Russians will be gone in smoke.
ELINA
The endgame is the supplier. The Broker. Cut the artery, the body dies.
Markus glances down, then up, holding Elina’s gaze too long.
MARKUS
If there’s a diplomatic angle, I need to brief the mayor. He’ll ask questions.
ELINA
You can brief him tomorrow — if there is a tomorrow.
A tight beat. Markus nods, beaten.
EXT. TOWN BAR – REAR ALLEY – EARLY EVENING
Markus lights a cigarette with shaking hands. ALEKSEI steps from the shadows.
ALEKSEI
You look like a man who has not slept.
MARKUS
You said no blood in town. That was the deal.
ALEKSEI
I said there will be less blood if you are smart.
Markus exhales smoke, staring at a wet patch on the ground.
MARKUS
They’re going to the depot tonight. SUPO. I can’t stop them.
Aleksei smiles, small and cold.
ALEKSEI
You will not need to. Sometimes wolves find the traps for us.
He squeezes Markus’s shoulder with awful gentleness. Leaves him standing alone.
EXT. ABANDONED MINING DEPOT – “NIGHT” (SUN LOW) – LATER
The world is silent. Mosquitoes in the air, a hum of insects like electricity.
SUPO VAN settles in the trees. Elina, Aarne, Riina, and Kalle check comms.
ELINA
Headcams on. Quiet channel.
RIINA
Roger.
AARNE
We sure we’re not walking into a—
ELINA
We go now.
They slip from the van, low and fast.
Across the clearing, a car door shuts softly. ANNI and JUSSI huddle behind a boulder, wide-eyed.
JUSSI
We should go.
ANNI
Just a minute.
INT. DEPOT – SERVICE CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS
Elina leads. Pale light strips across wet concrete. Water drips. Their footfalls: muted.
Kalle raises a fist — STOP. He points — motion sensor. Riina kneels, clips the wire, breath held.
A whisper of boots beyond. Voices — Finnish, then Russian. The syllables overlap like a bad dream.
ELINA
(whisper)
Positions.
They fan out along rust-flaked machinery.
EXT. RIDGELINE – CONTINUOUS
Anni focuses her phone, zoomed in on an upper walkway: VINNI with two SKINS; RUSSIAN CARRIERS hauling crates. The hooded BROKER leans over a clipboard, leg stiff.
A faint radio crackle reaches her: Elina’s voice, too distant to parse. Anni leans forward for a better angle — gravel shifts beneath her.
JUSSI
(urgent whisper)
Anni!
INT. DEPOT – FLOOR – CONTINUOUS
A small rock pings down the metal chute. Heads turn.
VINNI
(in Finnish)
Kuka siellä on?
(Who’s there?)
Riina signals: GO.
SUPO emerges in a smooth burst: three points of movement, weapons low. The room yanks tight.
ELINA
Suojelupoliisi! Pudota aseet!
(Security Intelligence! Drop your weapons!)
An eternity. Then everything explodes.
Gunfire. Echoing metallic shrieks. Men duck and scatter. A Russian fires blind. Kalle returns two pops, precise.
AARNE
Left catwalk!
The Broker slips into shadow, limping fast, a hand on the rail. Elina sprints after him.
RIINA covers, moving to flank— a muzzle flash from above— THUNK.
Riina crumples. A dark flower blooms on her chest.
KALLE
Riina! Riina!
AARNE
(metallic)
I see the shooter— top—
Another burst. Kalle’s head snaps back —
Silence rushes in like wind.
ELINA (O.S.)
Aarne— status!
AARNE
(voice breaking)
Kalle is down. Riina is—
(beat)
Vittu.
Footsteps scatter. The Russians dump crates, evac. Vinni’s men fall back, firing, whooping, high on fear.
VINNI
(in Finnish)
Perääntykää!
(Retreat!)
EXT. RIDGELINE – SAME
Anni clenches her mouth to keep from crying out. Jussi grabs her hand.
JUSSI
We have to go. Now.
A distant howl from a skinhead devolves into laughter, then fades.
Anni keeps filming, tears in her eyes. The Broker briefly steps into view on the walkway — his hood slips. We glimpse a scar at the temple.
INT. DEPOT – SERVICE STAIRS – CONTINUOUS
Elina pushes up the stairs, two at a time. A shadow moves ahead; she fires — sparks skip from railing. The Broker is gone. Only empty air and the stink of oil.
She reaches the top deck. A door slams below. The echo doubles on itself, disorienting.
ELINA
(quiet)
You’re real.
Her jaw locks. She holsters the weapon, breath ragged.
EXT. DEPOT – YARD – MOMENTS LATER
Blue lights wash the fence. Local POLICE finally crest the hill; Markus at the front, late.
Paramedics rush in. Aarne kneels by RIINA, compressions useless.
PARAMEDIC
We have to work.
Aarne staggers away, chest heaving. Elina stands still, hands trembling just enough to notice.
MARKUS
What happened?
Elina looks through him.
ELINA
We were late by five minutes. And early by five years.
She walks away.
EXT. WOODED TRAIL – NIGHT THAT NEVER COMES
Anni and Jussi run, breath clouding even in summer chill. Anni stops, bending double, sobbing. She wipes her face, defiant.
ANNI
My mom’s there. We have to—
JUSSI
She’s SUPO? Jesus.
ANNI
Don’t say Jesus. Say jumalauta. It fits better.
They share a shaky laugh. Keep running.
INT. RENTAL CABIN – LATER
Elina enters, bone-tired. She moves like her joints hurt.
Anni sits on the couch, hoodie up.
ANNI
Hi.
Elina freezes. The smallest smile breaks through — then the fear.
ELINA
Where were you?
ANNI
With Jussi. Shooting… photos.
Elina studies her. Anni meets her eyes — then breaks, hand trembling as she passes her phone.
On screen: the depot. The crates. VINNI. RUSSIANS. THE BROKER. The limp unmistakable.
Elina’s breath leaves her.
ELINA
(soft)
Hyvä, kulta.
(Good, sweetheart.)
She sits beside Anni, holds her head. They let the silence speak.
INT. TOWN BAR – SAME TIME
Vinni slams a glass down, pupils huge. Four of his MEN crowd close.
VINNI
We got the guns. We push tomorrow. Russians don’t get to own our country.
SKIN #1
The guy with the hood— who was he?
VINNI
A parasite.
The door opens. ALEKSEI enters, alone. The room quiets.
ALEKSEI
In your history books, your heroes die stupid.
VINNI
Get out, Moskva.
ALEKSEI
Not before I tell you this: the man you think sells you freedom sells your leash.
Vinni snorts, emboldened by his men.
VINNI
We’ll cut it.
Aleksei nods, almost respectful, and leaves.
INT. LOCAL POLICE STATION – INTERROGATION ROOM – MORNING
A RUSSIAN DRIVER sits handcuffed, battered but smug. Elina and Aarne face him. TRANSLATOR on standby but unneeded.
ELINA
Where is the Broker?
The driver shrugs.
DRIVER
Broker? I know only fish brokers here. Good pike.
AARNE
We have photos. Your face. Your crates. The hooded man.
Driver smiles.
DRIVER
Lots of hoods in Lapland. Sun never sets.
Elina leans in. Cold.
ELINA
If I call Border Guard, you don’t go home. You go to a place where even the sun gets tired. And the coffee is very bad.
The driver’s confidence wavers.
DRIVER
You don’t know who you hunt.
ELINA
I do.
Her eyes go distant. She stands, taps on the mirror — the session is over. Aarne follows, puzzled.
INT. POLICE STATION – HALLWAY – CONTINUOUS
Aarne corners Elina.
AARNE
What are we missing?
Elina stares at the floor tiles as if they might move.
ELINA
The Broker used to sit across the table from me.
(beat)
Kasper Laakso.
Aarne blinks.
AARNE
Laakso died in Karelia.
ELINA
So did a lot of people who still breathe.
Aarne absorbs that. The hum of a vending machine fills the space, too loud.
EXT. RIVERSIDE – MIDDAY
MARKUS sits alone on a bench, looking at the water as if it might explain something. ELINA approaches, stands beside him.
MARKUS
I was a good cop once.
ELINA
So was I.
He gives a brittle laugh.
MARKUS
You needed the perimeter tight. I gave you holes. I’m… tired of lying about who digs them.
Elina watches the river. Doesn’t rescue him.
ELINA
Who’s paying you?
Markus’s jaw works.
MARKUS
No one pays enough for what it costs.
ELINA
I need names.
He nods, small. Pulls a crumpled note from his pocket. Two names: Aleksei Malinov and Kasper Laakso.
Elina reads, unsurprised, and folds the paper back into his hand.
ELINA (CONT’D)
You’re going to help me fix it. Or you’ll be the headline at the festival.
Markus nods, close to tears.
INT. RENTAL CABIN – AFTERNOON
Elina scrubs through Anni’s videos frame by frame on a laptop. She freeze-frames the Broker’s profile — the scar, the weary eyes. Not a monster. Human. Worse.
AARNE (V.O.)
(through phone)
Border intel confirms a movement from Murmansk tonight. If Laakso’s alive, he’s not hiding. He’s coordinating.
ELINA
He’ll use the depot again. Or something bigger.
AARNE
We have chatter about uranium samples— rumors, but—
ELINA
He always loved a dramatic flourish.
Anni watches her mother’s face harden.
ANNI
Is he the bad guy?
Elina closes the laptop.
ELINA
He’s the story we tell ourselves to make sense of a bad system.
ANNI
That sounds like a yes.
Elina almost smiles.
EXT. SMALL AIRSTRIP – EVENING
A private TURBOPROP lands in a shimmer of heat. ALEKSEI steps out, greets a man in a charcoal coat: COLONEL-TYPE, not in uniform, with bureaucratic menace.
They walk toward a hangar. Markus photographs them from a distant rooftop, hands not steady. He sends the pictures to Elina.
A text flashes on Elina’s phone: “Hangar. Now.”
INT. AIRFIELD HANGAR – GOLDEN-HOUR DIM
Crates labeled with innocuous parts — MINING EQUIPMENT. A forklift hums. ALEKSEI and the COLONEL-TYPE circle a steel case on a table. A RADIATION SYMBOL is half-scraped off.
A SHADOW moves above — Elina and Aarne creep along a catwalk, silent as breath.
AARNE
(whisper)
We need a warrant.
ELINA
We need a country in the morning.
A forklift backs up with a BEEP-BEEP. The men below open the steel case: inside, lead canisters packed like Matryoshka secrets.
COLONEL-TYPE
(in Russian; subtitled)
Samples only. Enough to make everyone nervous, not enough to make a bomb.
ALEKSEI
(in Russian; subtitled)
Nervous is profitable.
A second figure steps from shadow, limping — KASPER LAAKSO. The Broker. Hair greying, eyes tired, scar puckered.
Elina grips the railing. Aarne’s eyes widen: ghost made flesh.
KASPER
(in Finnish)
Gentlemen. We keep schedules. That’s what keeps us civilized.
Elina raises her phone, snapping silent photos. Kasper senses something — looks up. His gaze meets Elina’s across distance and years.
Time stops.
Then Kasper smiles, the saddest smile in Lapland, and kills the lights.
Darkness floods the hangar. Shouts. Scraping metal. Aarne pulls Elina back as a bullet pings the catwalk.
AARNE
Move!
They sprint; a door slams; an alarm wails.
EXT. AIRFIELD – CONTINUOUS
Elina and Aarne drop from the catwalk to a stack of pallets, boots thumping. A TRUCK roars to life, barreling toward the open gate with the steel case. A police unit skids into the lot — Markus leading, siren off, lights flashing.
MARKUS
Stop the truck! Block the—
The truck fishtails, clips a patrol car, smashes through the gate. The case slides, clatters, remains sealed. The truck vanishes into the pale not-night.
Elina stands, chest heaving, eyes tracking empty air.
ELINA
He saw me.
AARNE
He didn’t shoot you.
ELINA
That’s worse.
INT. POLICE STATION – WAR ROOM – NIGHTLESS NIGHT
Maps, photos, strings. The wall looks like a crime committed against logic.
On the screen: Kasper’s file: “DECEASED — KARELIA INCIDENT.” Red-stamped.
AARNE
How did he survive?
ELINA
He never went. He sent someone else. He wrote the report. I… signed it.
Aarne reels, quiet.
AARNE
You thought he died.
ELINA
I needed him to.
Silence, heavy.
MARKUS enters, bruised from the gate crash.
MARKUS
The truck’s heading toward the old military depot by the river. Border Guard is tied up with a forest fire drill. They won’t make it.
ELINA
Of course they won’t.
She studies the map, seeing angles, routes.
ELINA (CONT’D)
Kasper wants a stage. The depot is a stage. He’ll bait Russians and skinheads both — then sell the cleanup to the highest bidder.
AARNE
And the canisters?
ELINA
Real enough to terrify. Not enough to matter. Except to headlines.
MARKUS
What do we do?
Elina picks up her holster. Cold, resolved.
ELINA
We end it before he writes the ending.
EXT. RENTAL CABIN – SAME
Anni packs her camera. She stops when she sees a DROP KNIFE hidden under a coil of rope. She puts it down like it’s hot.
ANNI
(to herself)
Stay close, she said.
Her phone buzzes: Jussi.
JUSSI (TEXT)
“Vinni’s guys are moving. Toward the river. They think Russians are there. Should we film?”
Anni types, then deletes. Types again.
ANNI (TEXT)
“Don’t go. Tell your brother to lock the door.”
She pockets the phone, looks at the door like it’s a prison. Decides.
EXT. ROAD TO DEPOT – LATE
Elina’s SUV chews gravel, wind scything the grass. Markus’s cruiser follows. In the distance: a line of SKINHEAD PICKUPS, flags rattling, charging toward the depot like a bad dream made of steel.
AARNE
We can’t stop them all.
ELINA
We don’t have to. We only need to stop the story.
INT. ALEKSEI’S CAR – SAME
Aleksei drives, face a stone. Next to him, the COLONEL-TYPE checks his watch, nervous.
COLONEL-TYPE
This has gone too visible.
ALEKSEI
Visibility is how we see who runs first.
EXT. OLD MILITARY DEPOT – PERIMETER – CONTINUOUS
The depot looms — low bunkers, razor wire. The truck with the STEEL CASE waits inside the gate. KASPER stands in the open, hands in pockets, face to the false twilight.
Vinni’s convoy arrives in dust. Engines cut. MEN jump out, brandishing rifles.
VINNI
(in Finnish)
This is Finnish soil. You don’t get to sell it.
Kasper smiles, gentle.
KASPER
(in Finnish)
Poika. I sell stories, not soil.
(Boy.)
Engines rumble on the far side — Aleksei’s cars fan out. Doors open. Well-dressed thugs step out, guns casual.
A stage, built.
Kasper raises one hand. For a heartbeat, everyone listens.
KASPER (CONT’D)
(in Finnish)
Let’s not be uncivilized.
Then a shot cracks — from the shadows, no one sure who fired. Chaos erupts.
EXT. RISE ABOVE THE DEPOT – SAME
Elina’s SUV stops hard. She and Aarne belly down on the ridge, binoculars up. Markus radios units to block the eastern road.
AARNE
He wants them to kill each other.
ELINA
He wants them to kill the truth.
She spots ANNI slipping along the fence line, small and deadly serious.
ELINA
Oh God.
She bolts.
EXT. DEPOT – YARD – CONTINUOUS
Gunfire ricochets. Men shout in Finnish and Russian. A FIRE licks at an old tarp — small for now.
Anni ducks behind the STEEL CASE truck. Her hands shake. She looks at the case’s latches. Stenciled numbers. The half-scraped radiation symbol.
She starts filming.
KASPER watches her without alarm, as if he’s always known her.
KASPER
(to Anni, soft; in Finnish)
Hei, pikku susi. Älä liiku.
(Hi, little wolf. Don’t move.)
Anni startles, looks up at him — the scar. The weary eyes.
Elina hits the yard like a storm.
ELINA
Anni! Tänne! Nyt!
(Here! Now!)
Kasper’s eyes meet Elina’s, the triangle complete: mother, daughter, ghost.
Aleksei fires a controlled burst to keep Vinni’s men pinned. Vinni screams something about Finland and purity, words drowned by bullets.
KASPER
(in Finnish)
You should take your daughter home, Elina.
ELINA
You should crawl back to your grave.
Kasper’s mouth twitches. He nods toward the case.
KASPER
There’s less inside than the label suggests. Exactly like me.
ELINA
Then open it.
KASPER
If I do, they will shoot at the glow anyway.
A bullet whines past; they flinch as one. Aarne slides behind the truck, gun up.
AARNE
We need to move!
ELINA
(to Anni; Finnish)
Kulta, juokse Aarnen taakse.
(Sweetheart, run behind Aarne.)
Anni hesitates — then sprints, Aarne shielding her.
Kasper watches Elina watch her daughter, something breaking behind his eyes.
KASPER
This was supposed to be clean. Fear, a headline, a reshuffle in Helsinki. We’ve gotten… sloppy.
ELINA
We? Or you?
Kasper looks almost embarrassed.
KASPER
I tell myself stories to sleep.
ELINA
Then wake up.
She steps toward him, gun unwavering.
ELINA (CONT’D)
Call them off. Both sides. Now.
KASPER
They don’t answer to me. They answer to myth.
He takes one step back, palms open. The STEEL CASE sits between them, an altar.
Aleksei spots Kasper in Elina’s line; Vinni spots Elina. Two sights converge.
AARNE
Elina—!
BANG. BANG.
Elina tackles Kasper behind the truck. The steel case CLANGS. Bullets chew the dust where his head was.
KASPER
(sardonic)
You used to be less sentimental.
ELINA
Shut up.
A new sound: SIRENS in the distance. Not close enough.
Vinni’s men surge — an engine revs — a pickup barrels forward, dragging chain link. It smashes a support pole; the small fire ignites a canvas roll; tongues of flame climb.
MARKUS
(over radio)
They’ve lit the east wall! We’ve got wind!
Elina senses the shape of future headlines: RADIATION PANIC IN LAPLAND. She stands, framed by the steel case and the fire.
ELINA
(to all; shouting)
Everyone stand down! There’s no payload! You’re shooting a painted box!
Some men falter. Others don’t.
Aleksei uses the hesitation to reposition, clinical. He signals two men to flank Vinni. CRACK-CRACK — two skinheads drop. Vinni screams, frothing.
VINNI
(in Finnish)
Petoja!
(Beasts!)
He charges, idiot-brave.
KASPER
(to Elina)
If you arrest me, they will make me a legend. If I walk away, they will forget me.
ELINA
That’s the point.
Kasper considers. His eyes shine with something like regret.
KASPER
I’m tired of being useful.
He stands — hands raised — and steps into the open. For a second, everyone sees him: Russians, Finns, cops, the sky itself.
KASPER (CONT’D)
(in Finnish; loud)
Lopettakaa. Tämä on loppu.
(Stop. This is the end.)
The yard freezes. Even the fire listens.
Then a single shot cracks from somewhere unclaimed. It hits Kasper center mass. He folds, almost politely, sits down against the steel case.
Elina whirls, searching for origin — smoke, heat distort the air — no sightline.
Aleksei lowers his pistol very slowly. Vinni breathes hard, gun trembling, uncertain if he fired.
ELINA
Kasper—!
She drops to him, pressure on the wound. Blood is surprisingly quiet.
KASPER
(whisper)
I thought I… had more time.
ELINA
We all do.
KASPER
(soft laugh)
You were always better at endings.
His eyes slide to Anni, peering from behind the truck.
KASPER (CONT’D)
(to Anni; Finnish)
Älä usko miesten tarinoita. Kirjoita omasi.
(Don’t believe men’s stories. Write your own.)
He exhales. Somewhere, metal pops in the heat. The sound of something giving up.
Elina closes his eyes. For a heartbeat, the yard is church-quiet.
Then the fire FLOWS along a fuel line — a sudden WHUMP. Flames lick a stack of pallets; smoke thickens. Panic returns.
ELINA
Aarne— evac now! Markus, get hoses on the east wall! Move!
Aarne shepherds Anni toward the gap in the fence. Vinni’s men drag their fallen; Aleksei orders a retreat, annoyed rather than afraid.
ALEKSEI
(in Russian)
Enough. We leave.
He meets Elina’s eyes across heat shimmer. Tips an invisible hat. Then he’s gone, cars reversing into the pale endless evening.
Elina sits back on her heels beside Kasper’s body, smoke folding around her like a shroud. The steel case sits unopened. A joke with bad timing.
CUT TO WHITE SMOKE.
EXT. RIVERBANK – LATER
Fire crews mop up. The depot smolders. The sun hovers, indecisive.
Anni sits on a rock, wrapped in a blanket. Elina kneels before her, hands on her shoulders.
ELINA
You don’t go near a scene again. Ever.
ANNI
I wanted to help.
ELINA
You did.
(beat, softer)
Liikaa.
(Too much.)
They fold into each other. Water laps at stones. The day refuses to end.
INT. POLICE STATION – EVIDENCE ROOM – NIGHTLESS
AARNE and MARKUS stand over the STEEL CASE, now in custody. A Geiger counter sits idle. Numbers calm.
AARNE
He was right. Samples small. Mostly scrap.
MARKUS
Still enough to make a career for some politician.
Aarne glances at Markus.
AARNE
You’re going to have to choose which side of the story you’re on.
Markus nods, wrecked but upright.
MARKUS
I already did.
He places his badge on the table. A moment of simple, brutal honesty.
INT. RENTAL CABIN – NIGHT THAT NEVER ARRIVES
Elina sits alone at the table. The room is a wash of pale light and long shadows.
On the table: Kasper’s old file, a fresh evidence photo of him on the hangar catwalk, and Anni’s phone with the depot video paused on Kasper’s small, sad smile.
A knock. AARNE enters, awkward.
AARNE
Border Guard is finally awake. Helsinki wants a clean memo. “Local disturbance. No foreign incident.”
Elina snorts.
ELINA
They’ll bury him twice.
AARNE
What do we write?
Elina looks at the window. The light never changes.
ELINA
We write the truth that keeps people safe. Not the one that keeps them asleep.
Aarne nods, not fully understanding, but trusting her.
He hesitates at the door.
AARNE (CONT’D)
You saved him. Tried to. After what he did.
ELINA
I didn’t save him.
AARNE
You tried.
Elina looks down at her hands — steady again.
ELINA
Maybe I was saving the part of me that used to believe people come back.
Aarne leaves. Elina sits in the quiet.
After a moment, Anni appears in the doorway, sleepy-eyed, blanket around her shoulders.
ANNI
Mom?
ELINA
I’m here.
Anni crosses, rests her head against Elina’s arm. They watch the persistent sun together, like it’s a promise and a threat.
FADE OUT.
END OF ACT II
ACT III
FADE IN:
INT. SUPO FIELD OFFICE – TEMPORARY (POLICE STATION) – MORNING THAT LOOKS LIKE NIGHT
A fluorescent buzz. A new whiteboard labeled: AFTERMATH.
Photos: KASPER (deceased), ALEKSEI, VINNI, the STEEL CASE. Arrows, dates, the word MYTH circled in black.
ELINA at the head of the room. AARNE and two SUPO ANALYSTS sit with laptops. MARKUS stands at the door, not sure if he belongs.
ELINA
We have three problems left.
(1) Aleksei — he’ll try to exfil tonight.
(2) Vinni — he’ll hit back for pride.
(3) Helsinki — they want a bedtime story.
She taps the board.
ELINA (CONT’D)
We control the ending or they will.
AARNE
Border’s still slow. If Aleksei runs north to Ivalo, he can cut east to Murmansk in four hours.
ELINA
He won’t run. He’ll launder the narrative first. He’ll try to pin the depot on “domestic extremists.”
She turns to Markus.
ELINA (CONT’D)
Can you reach Vinni?
MARKUS
He’s not answering me. But his second, Kake, drinks at the Kelo Bar around noon.
ELINA
Go. Draw them out. Keep it legal.
(beat)
And clean, Markus. Puhdas.
Markus nods, swallowing.
EXT. SODANKYLÄ – FESTIVAL SQUARE – MIDDAY
Families drift past film posters. A small stage being set — a Q&A banner flaps. The MIDNIGHT SUN FILM FESTIVAL hums, oblivious.
Elina and Aarne move through the crowd, low profile, scanning faces.
AARNE
If Vinni wants a symbol, the square is perfect.
ELINA
He’ll want blood on camera.
Her phone buzzes: a text from ANNI —
“Jussi heard Vinni’s planning ‘something bright’ at the square at 18:00. He said ‘the sun will finally set.’”
Elina shows Aarne.
AARNE
Explosives.
ELINA
Or a flare that turns to fire.
They keep walking.
INT. TOWN HALL – SIDE OFFICE – AFTERNOON
A speakerphone. The line hisses. A HELENA from Helsinki (SUPO HQ) speaks with bureaucratic calm.
HELENA (V.O.)
We appreciate your work, Elina. For optics, we’ll call the depot an internal matter. No foreign link.
ELINA
There was a foreign link. It had a name and a pulse.
HELENA (V.O.)
And now it doesn’t. Which is why it’s easier to omit.
Elina’s jaw tightens.
ELINA
We’ll protect the public without lying to them.
HELENA (V.O.)
You’ll do your duty. That’s why we sent you.
(beat)
Send the clean memo by eighteen-hundred.
The line dies. Elina stares at the phone like it insulted her ancestors.
EXT. KELO BAR – BACK LOT – AFTERNOON
MARKUS waits by a dumpster, nervy. KAKE (shaved head, overconfident) steps out to smoke. Markus approaches, palms out.
MARKUS
Kake. Tarvitsemme puhua.
(We need to talk.)
KAKE
We talk with fists.
Kake shoves Markus; Markus absorbs it.
MARKUS
Vinni will hit the square at six. There are kids. Perkele, children.
Kake’s grin falters.
KAKE
Vinni doesn’t… kill kids. He hates Russians, not Finns.
MARKUS
Fire doesn’t care who sings the anthem.
A long breath. Kake flicks ash, looks away.
KAKE
He’s got flares and gas. At the stage. Says it’ll “wake Finland.”
Markus steadies himself.
MARKUS
Give me the trigger man’s name.
Kake hesitates.
KAKE
Masa. He likes to be important.
MARKUS
Where is he now?
Kake points south. Markus nods once and walks, like every step is a confession.
EXT. RIVER DOCK – WAREHOUSE ROW – LATE AFTERNOON
A quiet strip of tin roofs and wet wood. ALEKSEI steps from a black sedan in a fitted coat, calm. He’s met by A CIVILIAN SUIT — the same COLONEL-TYPE from the hangar.
ALEKSEI
I have to tidy the stage. Then I go.
COLONEL-TYPE
You should already be gone.
ALEKSEI
(soft)
I like Finnish endings. They pretend to be polite.
They enter a corrugated warehouse.
Across the street, ELINA and AARNE watch from behind stacked pallets.
AARNE
We call it in? Backup?
ELINA
Backup comes with strings.
She checks her pistol. Breathes.
INT. WAREHOUSE – CONTINUOUS
Dim. Stacks of nets, barrels, and an improvised office. A corkboard with clippings — all in Finnish — about “domestic unrest.”
Aleksei pours two vodkas. Hands one to the COLONEL-TYPE.
ALEKSEI
To stories.
COLONEL-TYPE
To borders.
ELINA (O.S.)
To endings.
They turn. Elina steps from shadow; Aarne covers from the flank.
ELINA (CONT’D)
Hands where I can see them.
Aleksei sets the glass down, elegant.
ALEKSEI
If you arrest me, the embassy will make a festival of it. You do have a festival, yes?
ELINA
We’re cancelling yours.
COLONEL-TYPE
(smile)
You cannot arrest a rumor.
ELINA
But I can tape it confessing.
She taps her phone — recording light glows.
ELINA (CONT’D)
Say your name. Say you arranged false-flag shipments to destabilize Finland.
(in Finnish)
Nimi. Nyt.
(Name. Now.)
Aleksei’s eyes flick with amusement.
ALEKSEI
No.
He knocks the vodka to the floor. Glass shatters. In that breath, the Colonel-Type draws — Aarne fires — the Colonel drops, howling, shoulder blood-slick.
Aleksei moves like a dancer, grabs a hook, whips it at Elina. She ducks; the hook bites a beam. Close-quarters now: brutal, efficient.
Elina and Aleksei trade short, skilled blows. He’s heavier; she’s colder. She rakes his forearm with the slide’s rear sight; he headbutts; stars burst.
AARNE
Elina!
The Colonel-Type crawls for a gun; Aarne kicks it away, covers him.
Aleksei clamps Elina’s wrist, gun pointing at the ceiling. Close enough to smell his cologne.
ALEKSEI
You think you are winter. But I am the river.
ELINA
Rivers freeze.
She slams his hand against steel; his pistol clatters. She drives an elbow — he collapses to a knee. She levels him.
ELINA (CONT’D)
On your stomach.
Aleksei looks up, the tiniest smile.
ALEKSEI
You won one night.
He turns his hands, laces fingers, lies down. She cuffs him. Aarne binds the Colonel’s arm.
AARNE
We have to move. Vinni’s clock is ticking.
Elina drags Aleksei to his feet.
ELINA
You’re coming to watch the ending.
They haul him out.
EXT. FESTIVAL SQUARE – 17:42
Crowds gather. A golden, flat light. Volunteers set out chairs. A banner flaps: “MIDNIGHT SUN DIALOGUES.”
ANNI and JUSSI weave through the crush, anxious.
ANNI
Look for canisters, tape, anything.
They split.
Near the stage, MASA (late 20s, eager) kneels by a speaker stack, running a cable into a taped-black JERRY CAN.
JUSSI (O.S.)**
Hey.
Masa looks up — teen kid with a camera, too casual.
MASA
Get lost.
Jussi points the DSLR like a weapon.
JUSSI
Smile.
Masa lunges to grab it; MARKUS appears behind him, jamming Masa’s arm up, smooth, decisive.
MARKUS
Poliisi.
(Police.)
Masa thrashes; Markus stays calm, gets the WIRELESS IGNITER. He sees the jerry can, follows the cable — finds a STRING OF CANS tucked under the stage. Enough to torch, not to blast.
MARKUS (CONT’D)
(to radio)
Device is incendiary. Disarming.
Hands steady now. He clips the igniter’s leads, pockets it, tapes the fuel line shut. His breath evens like a man who has finally remembered his job.
ANNI arrives, clocking it all.
ANNI
You did it.
MARKUS
We’re not done.
He cuffs Masa to the scaffolding. Kake appears at the edge of the stage, catching Markus’s eye. He nods once. A complicated truce.
EXT. ROAD INTO SQUARE – 17:58
Elina’s SUV noses against the closed street barriers. She, Aarne, and a cuffed ALEKSEI step out.
The square glows with a wrong kind of peace. Elina scans. Sees MARKUS at the stage. Sees ANNI, safe. Relief hits like a bruise.
AARNE
We got here first.
ELINA
We got here right.
A roar of engines. VINNI’S PICKUPS arrive, two trucks packed with men, flag patches flashing. They fan at the edge of the crowd — some civilians cheer, misunderstanding.
Vinni jumps from the cab, arms wide, a prophet of cheap myths.
VINNI
(in Finnish; shouting)
Finland awake!
He sees the stage is clean. His moment, stolen. Fury blooms.
VINNI (CONT’D)
(in Finnish)
Who betrayed us?
Kake lowers his eyes. Vinni reads it, betrayal buzzing in the air.
ELINA steps between Vinni and the square, calm as a funeral.
ELINA
It’s over.
VINNI
You don’t end us. We are the end.
ELINA
No. You’re an intermission.
Vinni lifts his pistol. In the same instant, Aleksei laughs softly behind her.
ALEKSEI
See? Rivers.
Elina doesn’t turn.
ELINA
Aarne. Get him off my air.
Aarne stuffs a rag between Aleksei’s teeth, firm but legal enough.
The crowd’s noise dips, curious and afraid.
Markus aims low, moving to flank. Anni films — close enough to catch breath.
ELINA (CONT’D)
(in Finnish; to Vinni)
Laske ase. Loppu.
(Lower the gun. The end.)
Vinni hesitates. His men jitter, adrenalized. The square holds its breath.
From the stage, MARKUS calls out, voice clear, steady.
MARKUS
(in Finnish)
Ei tänään. Ei täällä.
(Not today. Not here.)
He steps into view, badge pinned back to his chest. The traitor choosing the town.
Vinni locks on him, eyes wild.
VINNI
You sold us to Moscow.
MARKUS
I sold myself and I’m buying me back.
Vinni screams, raises the gun —
BANG.
Markus drops to a knee — not hit — Elina fired, taking a shot into the asphalt at Vinni’s feet, surgical, shocking him. The square gasps.
ELINA
Next round is expensive.
Vinni blinks — first doubt like a crack in ice. In that microsecond, Kake grabs Vinni’s wrist and wrenches — the pistol drops. Markus tackles, cuffs; Aarne moves to cover. Vinni howls, small now.
Sirens at the perimeter — POLICE VANS arrive for once on time. The crowd exhales in a ragged, confused cheer.
Elina turns to see Aleksei watching the human weather. In his eyes: admiration and contempt, old friends.
EXT. FESTIVAL SQUARE – LATER
Vinni’s men are loaded into vans. Kake disappears into the crowd, a ghost choosing not to be a headline.
ALEKSEI sits on a bench, cuffed, flanked by two officers. He enjoys the fresh air like a café.
Elina stands over him.
ALEKSEI
You saved your square. Your paper will still lie.
ELINA
Maybe. But we wrote tonight ourselves.
ALEKSEI
(smiles)
Do you think cages keep water?
ELINA
They keep you.
Aleksei’s eyes drift to the horizon — the sun, stubborn.
ALEKSEI
For now.
INT. TOWN HALL – BRIEFING ROOM – EARLY EVENING
A recorder on the table. Elina sits opposite a laptop on video call — HELENA from Helsinki again, composed.
HELENA (ON SCREEN)
Congratulations. The square looks… intact. We’ll attribute the incident to domestic actors. Thank you for your discretion regarding foreign involvement.
Elina considers the ceiling. Then looks right into the camera.
ELINA
Here is the memo:
“A foreign actor organized a staged panic using domestic proxies. A senior ex-operative, Kasper Laakso, was killed attempting to de-escalate. Russian criminal liaison Alexei Malinov taken into custody. Local extremists disrupted and disarmed.”
Helena’s face thins.
HELENA (ON SCREEN)
That version creates diplomatic work.
ELINA
That version saves future lives.
A long quiet war passes through the wire.
HELENA (ON SCREEN)
Send it. I’ll see… what survives.
The line clicks dead.
Aarne exhales, a laugh without humor.
AARNE
You just made enemies with better offices.
ELINA
They already didn’t send us help.
INT. POLICE HOSPITAL ROOM – NIGHTLESS
MARKUS sits on a bed in a thin gown, getting a butterfly bandage over a cut. He looks lighter, like a weight slid off his bones.
Elina enters. Markus straightens.
MARKUS
You going to arrest me?
ELINA
Yes. Then you’re going to testify.
A small, grateful smile. He nods.
MARKUS
I’ll say it all. Maybe someone hears.
ELINA
They will.
(beat)
If not, we will again.
He nods, eyes wet. She squeezes his shoulder.
EXT. RIVER – BLUE MIDNIGHT
Water moves like slow glass. Smoke skates low. The world is quiet enough to hear distance.
ELINA walks with ANNI along the bank. A small pack of reindeer clops past them on the opposite shore, indifferent.
ANNI
Are we safe now?
ELINA
Safer. That’s not the same thing.
ANNI
Kasper wasn’t a monster.
ELINA
No. He was a person. That’s harder.
They stop where the river narrows. Anni hands her mother the phone.
On screen: Kasper at the depot, saying “Don’t believe men’s stories. Write your own.” Elina watches, the words a stone in the river of her face.
ANNI
We don’t have to show anyone if it hurts you.
Elina thinks. Then shakes her head.
ELINA
We show what helps. We keep what saves.
Anni nods, accepts the ambiguity.
ANNI
You going back to Helsinki?
ELINA
Tomorrow. You’ll come or stay with your father?
ANNI
I’ll come. Someone has to fact-check you.
They smile, small and real.
EXT. SODANKYLÄ – OUTSKIRTS – DAWN THAT NEVER ARRIVES
A convoy rolls: POLICE, SUPO, one unmarked car. ALEKSEI rides in the back, silent, cuffed. He looks out at Lapland, memorizing it anyway.
As they pass the sign SODANKYLÄ →, a fox stands in the road, watches them, slips away.
INT. SUPO FIELD OFFICE – MORNING AFTER THAT – EPILOGUE
Boxes. The whiteboard now reads: CLOSED (for now).
Aarne hands Elina a folder: Helsinki Reply.
AARNE
They’re… publishing a redacted version.
Elina skims: whole paragraphs black. But a few lines remain. Names. Dates. Enough to be a skeleton.
ELINA
Skeletons tell stories.
AARNE
How do you sleep after this?
Elina looks at the window. The light is still there, like a friend who overstayed.
ELINA
With the sun on. So I can see what I’m not dreaming.
Aarne grins, tired.
AARNE
Coffee?
ELINA
Always.
They exit.
EXT. RIVER – FINAL IMAGE
The camera holds on the Kitinen River. The light hovers. Wind rakes the reeds. A yoik hum rises, the same from the beginning, but closer.
In the shallows: a small stack of flat stones, newly built. A private memorial that means more than a statue.
SUPER: MIDNIGHT SILENCE
FADE OUT.
THE END.
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