White Hunger - a movie script idea and a screenplay. Sweden vs Russia, in a time of Napoleon wars - 2 drafts

- tammikuuta 08, 2026

Title: WHITE HUNGER

A historical war thriller (1808–1809) where battle is fast, politics is cynical, and “the plague” in the north eats armies and families alike.

Historical spine (what the film teaches, without turning into a lecture)

The Finnish War (1808–1809) was part of the Napoleonic Wars. After the Treaty of Tilsit (July 1807), Russia aligned with Napoleon and pressured Sweden to join the Continental System; Sweden refused, and Russia invaded Finland.
In Finland, the real mass killer wasn’t only bullets: dysentery and typhus tore through soldiers and civilians in 1808–1809, accounting for a huge share of deaths in the crisis years.
Sweden’s failure contributed to the 1809 coup and a new political order; Finland became the Grand Duchy of Finland under Russia with significant autonomy.

Logline

As Russia’s invasion pushes north through Finland, a Swedish-Finnish retreat collapses into winter starvation and epidemic disease. A Finnish healer fights to keep a village alive as “the plague” spreads, while Stockholm tears itself apart over whether Sweden should make peace with Napoleon, ally with him, or die resisting. In the far north, an isolated column crosses the line from hunger into the unthinkable—while the future Grand Duchy of Finland is born in the ruins.

Main characters (likeable, clashing, memorable)

Captain ELIAS FORSS (Swedish-Finnish officer, 30s)

Disciplined, humane, stubborn. He believes in Sweden’s promise to Finland—until Sweden abandons it.

AINO KEMPPI (Finnish midwife/healer, late 20s–30s)

Practical, brave, darkly funny under stress. She’s the film’s moral center: she refuses to let “war” excuse cruelty.

Dr. PAVEL SOKOLOV (Russian army surgeon, 40s)

Not a cartoon villain. He hates waste, understands disease, and is trapped inside an imperial machine that rewards brutality.

MAJOR JONAS ADLERSKÖLD (Swedish noble officer, 30s)

Charismatic, reckless, desperate to be “the hero.” His decisions get people killed—then he can’t live with it.

HEDVIG SPARRE (Stockholm political operator, 30s–40s)

Sharp, patriotic, realistic. She sees Sweden can’t fight everyone at once and tries to steer the crown away from total ruin.

COLONEL ARKHIPOV (Russian commander, 40s–50s)

Cold, efficient, terrifying. He uses exemplary punishment and “shock” tactics to break resistance.

MIIKA (Finnish teen messenger, 15–17)

A runner between units and villages. He gives the audience motion, speed, and innocence being burned away.

Suggested casting (options; mix-and-match)

Elias Forss: Joel Kinnaman / Sverrir Gudnason / Jasper Pääkkönen
Aino Kemppi: Alma Pöysti / Krista Kosonen / Noomi Rapace (older/grittier Aino)
Dr. Sokolov: Mads Mikkelsen (if you want star power) / Lars Mikkelsen / Danila Kozlovsky (if going Russian)
Hedvig Sparre: Rebecca Ferguson / Lena Endre / Sidse Babett Knudsen

Structure (3 acts)

ACT I — “THE ICE ROAD OPENS”

Opening image: A frozen river in northern Ostrobothnia. Boots crunch. A sled with corpses is pulled past living soldiers who won’t look.

Set-piece 1 (fast battle): Siikajoki / northern retreat
A rear-guard action: musket smoke, cavalry feints, men falling into slush. Elias holds a line just long enough for civilians to flee. (This anchors the “fast battles” tone.)

Aino introduced
She’s delivering a baby in a farmhouse while cannon thumps in the distance. Her first line is a joke that breaks tension—then she notices the mother’s rash and fever.

The “plague” arrives
A wagon of refugees brings disease. Aino calls it “camp fever.” Dr. Sokolov later names typhus/dysentery and insists the army is basically manufacturing it through crowding and filth.

Stockholm thread begins
Hedvig corners a minister: Sweden is isolated; Denmark-Norway is hostile; Russia is advancing; France looms. She says: “We can’t fight the whole map.” (Sweden’s anti-Napoleon posture and the Tilsit flip are explicitly explained in sharp dialogue.)

ACT II — “THE NORTH GETS SICK”

The war becomes a logistics horror
Elias’s column retreats toward Oulu region. Food is requisitioned until villages are empty; then the villages die anyway.

Set-piece 2 (fast, brutal raid)
Arkhipov’s troops hit a village suspected of supplying Swedish forces. It’s quick: kick doors, seize grain, take hostages, burn storehouses. Aino stares him down—he spares her because she’s useful. The brutality is “method,” not madness.

The epidemic turns cinematic
Aino turns a church into a ward. Fevered delirium. The sound design is coughing and flies against winter silence.
Aino’s rule: no one dies alone if she can help it.
Elias brings her quinine-like hopes and gets crushed by reality.

The implied cannibalism thread (north of the story)
Miika is sent with a dispatch to a remote detachment guarding a pass. He finds:

men too weak to stand,
a cooking pot no one will explain,
and a “missing” dead comrade whose boots are neatly stacked by the fire.
No gore. Just the audience understanding before Miika does.

Stockholm fractures
Hedvig is pulled into a circle that argues:

Some want to keep resisting Napoleon on principle.
Some want peace with France to avoid fighting both France-aligned forces and Russia.
Some want a deal with Russia to save the crown.
This debate is framed as survival politics, not ideology cosplay.

ACT III — “A COUNTRY BREAKS, ANOTHER IS BORN”

Set-piece 3 (a last stand)
A sudden, violent clash in the north—short, chaotic, terrifying. Elias is wounded; Major Adlersköld makes a “hero” move that is really an ego move and pays for it.

The plague’s peak
Aino’s ward collapses. She chooses who gets the last clean water. Dr. Sokolov steals supplies from his own side to keep the epidemic from detonating in both armies—his redemption, and his condemnation.

Revelation and reckoning
Miika finally says it out loud: “They ate him.”
Elias doesn’t punish. He just looks at the men and says: “You will never speak of it. Not to save yourselves. Not to damn the dead.”

Historical turning point
Hedvig receives word: Sweden is breaking internally—coup talk, blame, humiliation. The film makes clear that military disaster and political upheaval are linked.

Epilogue: the Grand Duchy question
We end with a cold, sober “history lesson” scene: Aino reads a proclamation or hears a local official explain that Finland is now an autonomous Grand Duchy within Russia—laws largely continue, administration becomes distinctly Finnish over time. But it was born from conquest, trauma, and loss.

The “is autonomy OK or bad?” question — answered inside the story

The film refuses a simple verdict. It gives two emotionally honest answers:

Aino’s view (autonomy can be a seed)

Autonomy means Finnish institutions can grow, administration can become more local, identity can consolidate. It’s not “good” that it came through invasion—but it can still become useful for Finland’s future.

Elias’s view (autonomy is born from loss)

Sweden didn’t “grant” it—Russia “managed” it. The autonomy is real, but it arrives with grief, forced loyalty, and a silence around what happened in the north.

So the film ends with a line that lands both:

“A cage can be larger than a grave. It is still a cage.”

WHITE HUNGER

Screenplay
Historical War Thriller, 1808–1809

ACT I — THE ICE ROAD OPENS

1. EXT. FROZEN RIVER — DAWN

A white world. Sky and snow welded together.

A LINE OF MEN trudges across the ice: Swedish soldiers, Finnish auxiliaries, a few civilians mixed in like debris in a current.

Boots crunch. Breath fogs. Someone coughs—deep and wet.

A SLED slides past, pulled by two exhausted men. On it: CORPSES, wrapped in blankets, toes peeking out stiff as wood.

CAPTAIN ELIAS FORSS (30s) walks beside them. He doesn’t look at the bodies. He counts steps instead. Discipline as prayer.

A TEEN RUNNER, MIIKA (16), jogs up, cheeks raw.

MIIKA
Captain— message from Major Adlersköld. Rear guard is forming at the bend.

Elias takes the folded note with a gloved hand.

The line of refugees behind them includes a WOMAN holding a BABY too still.

Elias stops.

ELIAS
(to the woman)
Is the child sleeping?

The woman stares. Doesn’t answer.

AINO KEMPPI (late 20s/30s), midwife and healer, pushes through the line.

She checks the baby. A moment. Then she gently closes the blanket.

Aino meets Elias’s eyes. A tiny shake of her head.

Elias nods once. No words. They’re a luxury.

A distant THUMP.

Then another.

Cannons, far off. The morning has a heartbeat.

2. EXT. WOODED RIDGE — MORNING

A quick, violent ballet.

Swedish-Finnish troops scramble into position. Snow sprays. Muskets are lifted. A few HORSEMEN shift restlessly.

MAJOR JONAS ADLERSKÖLD (30s), noble, handsome, too bright for this cold world, rides up.

ADLERSKÖLD
Forss! Hold them here. Ten minutes, that’s all I need.

ELIAS
Ten minutes is a long time.

Adlersköld grins like it’s a duel.

ADLERSKÖLD
Then make it shorter.

He rides off.

Elias looks down the slope. A dark line moves between trees.

RUSSIANS.

Their advance is methodical. Too calm. That calm is a threat.

ELIAS
(shouting)
Ready!

The first volley cracks. Smoke blooms against snow.

Men fall. Not dramatically—just down, as if someone removed their strings.

The Russians answer immediately. Their volley hits the ridge like thrown stones.

A Finnish soldier beside Elias—KALLE—takes a ball to the throat. He drops, hands clamped to a red that looks black in this light.

Elias doesn’t flinch. He can’t afford to.

ELIAS
Reload!

A horse screams. A rider tumbles. Snow becomes churned slush.

A Russian officer’s voice carries in the cold—orders barked, sharp syllables.

The Russians surge, then stop, then surge again: pressure like a tide.

Elias watches the distance to the refugee line behind them.

ELIAS
(to a sergeant)
Two volleys. Then fall back by pairs. Don’t run.

The sergeant nods, terrified but trained.

A Russian skirmisher breaks through the trees too close—

Elias draws his pistol and fires. The skirmisher drops.

Elias’s hand shakes once after the shot. Then still.

The second Swedish volley.

Then—

ELIAS
Fall back!

They retreat in controlled fragments. A fast battle, a brief storm.

And when they crest the ridge, Elias looks back.

Russian soldiers are already in the position they just left.

The war is swallowing distance.

3. EXT. FARMSTEAD — DAY

A farmhouse half-buried in snow. Smoke from the chimney, thin and weak.

Inside, a baby’s first cry slices the cold.

4. INT. FARMHOUSE — DAY

Aino’s hands, sure and steady, guide a BIRTH.

A WOMAN lies on a table, sweat beading despite the cold.

Aino ties the cord, wipes the baby, hands him to the mother.

The mother laughs and sobs at once.

MOTHER
He’s loud.

AINO
Good. Loud is alive.

Aino tries to smile—then sees something.

The mother’s skin: faint rash at the hairline, tiny red specks.

Aino’s smile fades.

AINO
Have you had fever?

MOTHER
Just… tired.

A COUGH from the corner. A GRANDMOTHER sits wrapped in a shawl, eyes glassy.

Aino’s gaze goes to a bucket—thin stool, watery.

She closes her eyes a moment. She knows this pattern.

Outside: BOOTS, many of them.

Elias enters, removing his hat. He’s polite even now.

ELIAS
Aino. We need to move the refugees. Russians are close.

Aino doesn’t look up from washing her hands.

AINO
How close?

ELIAS
Close enough to smell their bread.

Aino dries her hands, steps closer.

AINO
This house is sick.

Elias pauses.

ELIAS
Sick how?

Aino nods toward the grandmother, the rash, the bucket.

AINO
Camp fever. Bloody flux. Whatever name you prefer. It will travel with us.

Elias’s jaw tightens—war is one enemy; this is another.

ELIAS
Can you keep them here?

Aino gives a short laugh, humor like a knife.

AINO
Keep them? Captain, winter doesn’t keep anyone. Winter collects.

5. EXT. ROAD FROM THE FARM — DAY

A refugee wagon rolls. People huddle together under blankets like animals.

Aino rides on the back, scanning faces. Elias walks beside, counting heads, scanning tree lines.

Miika runs ahead and back, restless as a bird.

Aino points to a man with a glazed stare, sweating.

AINO
Stop.

Elias signals. The column halts.

Aino climbs down and touches the man’s forehead.

AINO
Hot.

The man tries to smile.

SICK MAN
It’s nothing.

Aino lifts his sleeve. Lice. Tiny moving dots.

She exhales.

AINO
It’s not nothing.

Elias looks at the lice as if they’re bullets he can’t shoot.

ELIAS
(to soldiers)
Spread out. No stacking. Two steps between.

Groans. Protests.

SOLDIER
Captain, we’ll freeze.

Aino cuts in.

AINO
Then freeze clean. Or burn with fever. Choose.

Elias meets her eyes—he hates that she’s right.

6. INT. RUSSIAN FIELD TENT — DUSK

DR. PAVEL SOKOLOV (40s), Russian surgeon, trims bandages with calm precision.

Outside, screams and shouted orders.

COLONEL ARKHIPOV (50s) enters, snow on his coat like ash.

ARKHIPOV
Reports say the Swedes are retreating north.

Sokolov doesn’t look up.

SOKOLOV
Everyone retreats eventually. Some just do it later.

Arkhipov studies him.

ARKHIPOV
And the villages?

Sokolov sets down scissors.

SOKOLOV
The villages are full of lice and hunger. Which is to say—full of the future.

Arkhipov’s eyes narrow, not understanding, not caring.

ARKHIPOV
We take supplies. We take hostages. We burn what we cannot carry.

Sokolov’s voice is soft, dangerous.

SOKOLOV
You burn food, you burn discipline. Hunger makes animals of men.

Arkhipov leans in.

ARKHIPOV
Fear makes men obey.

Sokolov holds Arkhipov’s gaze.

SOKOLOV
For a while.

7. INT. STOCKHOLM SALON — NIGHT

Warmth. Candlelight. Silk. A map of Europe on a table like a chessboard.

HEDVIG SPARRE (30s–40s) stands over the map, sharp as a blade in velvet gloves.

A MINISTER and a GENERAL argue.

GENERAL
We will not bow to Napoleon’s blockade.

MINISTER
And we will not surrender Finland.

Hedvig taps the map—France, Russia, Sweden.

HEDVIG
Russia is not acting alone. After Tilsit, France and Russia are… aligned in interest, if not affection.

The men bristle at the foreign name.

MINISTER
We don’t bargain with the Corsican.

HEDVIG
Then we will bargain with winter and plague.

Silence. That lands harder than “Napoleon.”

She points to Finland.

HEDVIG (CONT’D)
You can fight Russia. Or you can posture at France. If you fight both, Sweden becomes a story other nations tell to scare their children.

A courtier tries to laugh. No one joins.

8. EXT. NORTHERN CHURCH — NIGHT

A church in the snow like a black tooth.

Inside, candlelight flickers.

9. INT. CHURCH WARD — NIGHT

Bodies on benches. Blankets. Moans.

Aino moves among them with a bowl of water like it’s treasure.

A soldier thrashes, delirious.

DELIRIOUS SOLDIER
They’re under the bed— the Russians—!

Aino grips his face gently.

AINO
There are no Russians under the bed. Only your fear.

Elias steps in, hat off, face tight.

He sees the scale of sickness and something in him cracks quietly.

ELIAS
How many?

Aino doesn’t answer directly.

AINO
How many names do you want to carry?

Elias looks away.

ELIAS
What do you need?

AINO
Space. Soap. And for your men to stop sleeping stacked like logs.

ELIAS
In this weather—

AINO
In this weather, they’ll die warmer if they die separately.

She gestures to a corner where two soldiers share a blanket, shivering.

Aino lowers her voice.

AINO (CONT’D)
And you need to stop letting refugees share breath like it’s free.

Elias’s eyes soften, guilt mixing with anger.

ELIAS
We’re losing ground.

Aino’s smile is tired.

AINO
You’re losing people.

A COUGH echoes—then another, like an answer.

10. EXT. CHURCHYARD — NIGHT

Elias stands outside, alone. Snow falls. He stares into darkness.

Miika approaches, hesitant.

MIIKA
Captain… are we going to win?

Elias tries to find the lie that would be kind.

He can’t.

ELIAS
We’re going to survive. That’s the job.

Miika nods, not comforted, but listening.

A distant glow on the horizon—fire. A village burning.

Elias’s face hardens.

ELIAS (CONT’D)
Run to the major. Tell him the north is sick. Tell him we need clean camps or we’ll die without a battle.

Miika sprints off.

Elias watches the falling snow like it’s counting down.

CUT TO:

11. EXT. TREE LINE — NIGHT

Russian silhouettes move through the trees.

They stop.

They listen.

The wind carries coughing like a warning.

A Russian soldier spits.

Arkhipov’s voice is low.

ARKHIPOV (O.S.)
Forward.

The line advances.

END OF ACT I.

ACT II — THE NORTH GETS SICK

12. EXT. FOREST ROAD — DAY

The column moves slower now. Not from caution— from weakness.

A wagon wheel snaps. Men stare at it like it’s a death sentence.

Adlersköld rides up, anger barely contained.

ADLERSKÖLD
Why have we stopped?

Elias gestures at the wagon, the sick.

ELIAS
Because we are breaking.

Adlersköld glares at Aino as if she’s the messenger he can shoot.

ADLERSKÖLD
We’ll leave the sick behind.

Aino steps forward, eyes flashing.

AINO
You leave them, you leave your soul. Then you’ll fight like an animal.

Adlersköld laughs sharply.

ADLERSKÖLD
Animals survive.

Elias’s voice is quiet steel.

ELIAS
Animals don’t hold lines.

Adlersköld rides off, furious.

Aino watches him go.

AINO
He wants glory in a country that’s turning into a grave.

13. EXT. VILLAGE OUTSKIRTS — DUSK

Smoke from chimneys. A few dogs bark—then go silent.

Aino and Elias enter with a small guard.

A villager runs up, desperate.

VILLAGER
You can’t stay. It’s here.

He points to his own neck—swollen glands.

Inside the first house: a FAMILY lying together, too still.

Aino’s jaw tightens.

AINO
This isn’t one sickness. It’s many wearing the same mask.

Elias looks at the village like a tactical problem.

Aino looks at it like a funeral that hasn’t started yet.

14. INT. RUSSIAN HQ — NIGHT

Sokolov argues with Arkhipov over a table of requisition lists.

SOKOLOV
You’re pulling people from houses and packing them into barns. That’s how typhus sings.

ARKHIPOV
We need control.

SOKOLOV
Then control your hunger. Burn less.

Arkhipov’s smile is thin.

ARKHIPOV
If the north is sick, let it die. Death clears roads.

Sokolov’s face goes cold.

SOKOLOV
Death also clears empires.

Arkhipov steps close, threatening.

ARKHIPOV
Be careful, doctor.

Sokolov doesn’t blink.

SOKOLOV
I am. That’s why I’m afraid of you.

15. EXT. VILLAGE SQUARE — DAWN

Arkhipov’s raid: fast, disciplined brutality.

Russian soldiers seize grain and livestock. No screaming orders—only efficiency.

Aino steps forward as a soldier drags a boy by the arm.

AINO
He’s twelve.

Arkhipov looks at her.

ARKHIPOV
Then he’s almost useful.

Aino’s hands ball into fists.

Elias steps in, trying diplomacy with a man who doesn’t use it.

ELIAS
Colonel— take what you want, leave the people.

Arkhipov studies Elias with mild curiosity.

ARKHIPOV
You think this is a negotiation because you are polite.

He gestures. A barn is set on fire—flames roaring instantly in dry wood.

Aino’s face reflects the fire. Her voice shakes—not with fear, with rage.

AINO
You’re killing the future.

Arkhipov shrugs.

ARKHIPOV
The future belongs to whoever eats.

Aino flinches at the word “eats,” not understanding yet how prophetic it is.

16. INT. CHURCH WARD — NIGHT

Overflow. People on the floor.

Aino scrubs her hands until they’re raw.

Miika staggers in, snow crusted on his hair, eyes wide and haunted.

MIIKA
Captain sent me… to the detachment beyond the pass.

Aino sees his expression, goes still.

AINO
What did you see?

Miika shakes his head, trying to deny reality.

MIIKA
They were… hungry.

Aino waits. Gentle, relentless.

Miika whispers, barely audible.

MIIKA (CONT’D)
There was a pot. And Corporal Lehto’s boots were by the fire.

Silence. The ward’s coughing becomes louder.

Aino closes her eyes.

AINO
Don’t say it to anyone else.

Miika nods, terrified.

Elias enters, overhearing only the tail end.

He reads their faces and understands—without needing the words.

His mouth tightens.

ELIAS
How far have we fallen.

Aino answers quietly.

AINO
Not far. Just fast.

17. INT. STOCKHOLM SALON — NIGHT

Hedvig, exhausted, confronts the Minister again.

HEDVIG
Finland is bleeding. The army is sick. The people are starving.

MINISTER
We cannot abandon Finland.

Hedvig’s voice cracks with truth.

HEDVIG
You already have. You just haven’t written it down.

The General slams a fist.

GENERAL
We should align with France, then— if Russia is France’s friend, we take France’s leash and pull.

Hedvig shakes her head.

HEDVIG
Napoleon doesn’t offer alliances. He offers terms.

A beat.

HEDVIG (CONT’D)
And if we choose wrong, Sweden doesn’t lose a province.

She points at the map—Sweden itself.

HEDVIG (CONT’D)
We lose our balance.

18. EXT. SNOWFIELD — DAY

A sudden clash.

Russian skirmishers hit the column’s flank.

It’s fast, chaotic: muskets, screams, bayonets flashing.

Elias fights like a man trying to hold the world together with his hands.

Adlersköld charges too far forward—glorious, stupid.

A Russian cavalryman swings a saber—

Elias tackles Adlersköld off his horse at the last second. The saber cuts air.

They roll in snow.

Adlersköld’s eyes are wild.

ADLERSKÖLD
Let me die like a man!

Elias grabs his coat.

ELIAS
Then live like one.

They scramble back as Russians surge.

The column retreats again.

But the real enemy keeps pace: coughing, fever, weakness.

END OF ACT II.

ACT III — A COUNTRY BREAKS, ANOTHER IS BORN

19. INT. CHURCH WARD — NIGHT

Aino triages by candlelight.

She has one clean cloth left. One.

A CHILD wheezes. An OLD MAN shakes with fever. A SOLDIER bleeds from a wound that won’t clot.

Aino stands frozen—forced into godhood against her will.

Elias watches her. He finally understands: war isn’t choosing who dies. It’s choosing who lives.

Aino tears the cloth in half.

She wraps the child first.

The old man sees it and smiles faintly, forgiving her before she can ask.

He closes his eyes.

20. EXT. WOODS — PRE-DAWN

Elias leads a small party to find supplies—soap, cloth, anything.

They find a cache—hidden under boards.

Before they can take it—

Russian boots. Surrounding them.

Arkhipov steps out, calm, satisfied.

ARKHIPOV
You keep running north as if the map ends and you can fall off it.

Elias lifts his hands slowly.

ELIAS
People are dying.

Arkhipov nods, as if agreeing about the weather.

ARKHIPOV
Yes.

Sokolov appears behind Arkhipov, watching Elias with something like pity.

Arkhipov orders Elias’s men disarmed.

Elias’s gaze flicks to Sokolov—doctor to doctor-of-war.

Sokolov gives the smallest shake of his head: Don’t.

21. EXT. RUSSIAN CAMP — DAY

Elias is marched through. He sees sick Russians too—plague doesn’t respect uniforms.

Sokolov intercepts Arkhipov.

SOKOLOV
If you pack prisoners with the sick, you’ll spread it faster.

Arkhipov looks amused.

ARKHIPOV
Then perhaps your empire of bandages can finally be useful.

Sokolov steps closer.

SOKOLOV
You want victory? Then stop feeding the fever.

Arkhipov’s eyes go flat.

ARKHIPOV
I feed fear. Fear wins.

Sokolov stares him down.

SOKOLOV
Fear eats its handler.

22. EXT. CHURCHYARD — NIGHT

Miika stands alone by a fresh grave. No marker.

Aino joins him.

Miika’s voice is hollow.

MIIKA
If we survive… what are we?

Aino looks toward the ward, the light flickering like a failing heart.

AINO
We are what we choose when we’re starving.

Miika swallows.

MIIKA
They ate him.

Aino’s breath catches—pain, not shock. She knew. Hearing it makes it real.

Aino puts a hand on Miika’s shoulder.

AINO
Then we will not become that. Do you understand?

Miika nods, crying without sound.

23. INT. STOCKHOLM — GOVERNMENT ROOM — NIGHT

Chaos. Papers. Raised voices. Rumors of coup.

Hedvig stands, hair slightly undone—an image of controlled collapse.

A messenger hands a note to the Minister. He reads it, face draining.

MINISTER
Finland… is lost.

Silence. The words are too big for the room.

Hedvig closes her eyes once, as if she’s been punched.

HEDVIG
Then we must decide what Sweden becomes after shame.

The General snarls.

GENERAL
We fight. We—

Hedvig cuts him off.

HEDVIG
You can’t fight with ghosts.

She points at the map again—Finland now feels like a wound.

HEDVIG (CONT’D)
Write the future, or the future will write you.

24. EXT. NORTHERN ROAD — DAY

Elias is released—why? It doesn’t matter; nothing is clean now.

He returns to the church to find fewer bodies moaning, and more bodies silent.

Aino sits on the floor, back against a pillar, exhausted beyond tears.

Elias kneels.

ELIAS
Aino.

She looks up. Her eyes are older.

AINO
I did what I could.

Elias nods.

ELIAS
I know.

He hesitates, then speaks quietly—the closest he comes to confession.

ELIAS (CONT’D)
If Finland becomes something new under Russia… is it mercy?

Aino thinks. Carefully. Honest.

AINO
Autonomy can be a seed.

Elias waits.

AINO (CONT’D)
But seeds grow in soil.

She gestures around—death, hunger, grief.

AINO (CONT’D)
This is the soil.

Elias swallows.

ELIAS
So… good or bad?

Aino meets his eyes.

AINO
Both. And neither. It’s survival wearing politics.

A beat.

Outside, the wind howls.

25. EXT. FROZEN RIVER — DUSK (EPILOGUE IMAGE)

A line of people moves again—smaller, thinner.

Miika runs ahead, still running, still alive.

Elias walks beside Aino this time—not as officer and healer, but as two witnesses.

In the distance, a flag flutters. Not Sweden’s.

Aino watches it, face unreadable.

AINO (V.O.)
We lost a war.
We lost a country.
And then—somehow—
we found a name for what remained.

The line disappears into the white.

FADE OUT.

THE END.

WHITE HUNGER

DRAFT 2 — Production Script
War / Historical Thriller
Finland, 1808–1809

ACT I — THE ICE ROAD OPENS

1. EXT. FROZEN RIVER — DAWN

SUPER: MARCH 1808 — NORTHERN OSTROBOTHNIA (NEAR SIIKAJOKI)

A white horizon. A line of SOLDIERS and REFUGEES moves across the ice.

Boots crunch. Harness leather squeaks. A COUGH travels like a rumor.

A SLED passes, pulled by two men. A SHAPE under canvas—too long to be sleeping.

CAPTAIN ELIAS FORSS (30s) walks beside the sled, face set like carved wood.

MIIKA (16), a runner with a torn mitten, jogs up.

MIIKA
Captain— Major Adlersköld says rear guard forms at the bend. Russians pushing.

Elias takes the message, nods once.

A REFUGEE WOMAN clutches a BABY—still, silent.

Elias stops.

ELIAS
Is the child sleeping?

The woman stares through him.

AINO KEMPPI (late 20s/30s), healer, steps in, checks the baby quickly—professional, gentle.

She pulls the blanket higher. A small shake of her head.

Elias inhales once. Nothing else changes. The line keeps moving.

Far off: a dull THUMP. Cannon.

2. EXT. WOODED RIDGE — MORNING

SUPER: SIIKAJOKI FRONT

A ridge above a frozen marsh. Swedish-Finnish troops scramble into position.

Elias signals with two fingers: LOW. QUIET.

SERGEANT LIND (40s) crouches beside him.

LIND
They’re coming clean. No panic.

Elias peers through branches. DARK FIGURES: RUSSIAN SKIRMISHERS, spaced out, disciplined.

A horse snorts. MAJOR JONAS ADLERSKÖLD (30s), noble officer, rides up—charisma over fear.

ADLERSKÖLD
Forss! Ten minutes. Hold. Then fall back in good order.

ELIAS
Ten minutes is a long time.

Adlersköld smiles like it’s an insult.

ADLERSKÖLD
Make it shorter.

Adlersköld rides off.

Elias turns to his men.

ELIAS
Volley on my hand. No firing early. Make it count.

A beat. Snow falls from a branch. Everyone hears it.

Elias raises his hand—

ELIAS (CONT'D)
Now.

BATTLE CHOREO BEATS:
—Swedish line fires: a single rolling CRACK. Smoke blooms.
—Russian front rank drops into snow.
—Russians answer immediately: CRACK-CRACK. Bark splinters.
—A FINNISH SOLDIER takes a ball to the throat, collapses silently, hands clawing red.
—Elias grabs a man’s collar, drags him down as rounds cut air.
—Two Swedish soldiers reload fast—bite cartridge, pour powder, ramrod—hands trembling but trained.

A Russian SKIRMISHER breaks right flank, too close—

Elias draws his pistol, FIRES—skirmisher drops.

Elias’s hand shakes once afterward. He hides it.

ELIAS
Reload! Second volley—then withdraw by pairs. Don’t run.

BATTLE CHOREO BEATS:
—Second Swedish volley.
—Russian line surges forward, not shouting—just advancing like machinery.
—Bayonets glint.
—Elias signals retreat: two men fall back, two cover, leapfrogging through trees.
—A cannonball hits a stump behind them, showering splinters.

Elias glances back: Russians already cresting the ridge.

The war eats distance.

3. EXT. FARMSTEAD — DAY

SUPER: OUTSKIRTS — A FEW MILES NORTH

A farmhouse half-buried in snow. Smoke thin from chimney.

Inside, a BABY’S CRY cuts through the winter.

4. INT. FARMHOUSE — DAY

Aino’s hands guide a birth with practiced calm.

MOTHER sweats. GRANDMOTHER coughs in a corner, eyes glassy.

The baby is delivered—healthy, loud.

MOTHER
He’s loud.

AINO
Good. Loud is alive.

Aino notices: a faint RASH at the hairline. A bucket with watery stool.

Aino’s smile fades.

Boots outside. The door opens.

Elias enters, hat in hand—polite in a world that no longer deserves it.

ELIAS
Aino. We move in ten minutes.

Aino washes her hands.

AINO
This house is sick.

ELIAS
Wounded?

AINO
Worse. Fever. Flux. Lice. It’ll ride with us.

Elias looks at the coughing grandmother like she’s a fuse.

ELIAS
Can you keep them here?

Aino gives a short laugh—humor as defense.

AINO
Winter doesn’t keep anyone. Winter collects.

5. EXT. FARM ROAD — DAY

A column reforms: soldiers, refugees, carts.

A Swedish LOGISTICS OFFICER, LIEUTENANT STEN LAGER (late 20s/30s), rides up with a ledger tucked under his arm like scripture.

LAGER
Captain Forss— we’ve got flour for two days if we ration. Salt for none. Soap— (checks) —soap is a memory.

Aino overhears.

AINO
Soap isn’t luxury. It’s a weapon.

Lager looks irritated—then sees the sick faces.

LAGER
We don’t have it.

Aino points to a refugee wagon: people piled together, breathing each other’s air.

AINO
Then separate them. Space is free.

Lager grimaces.

LAGER
Space freezes.

Elias steps between them.

ELIAS
Do it anyway. Two paces between men. No stacking.

Groans from soldiers.

SOLDIER
Captain, we’ll freeze.

Aino, flat and certain:

AINO
Then freeze clean. Or burn with fever.

6. INT. MAKESHIFT CHURCH WARD — NIGHT

SUPER: THREE DAYS LATER — NEAR OULU ROAD

A church converted into a ward. Bodies on benches and floor. Candlelight flickers.

A Finnish priest, FATHER MATTI RANTA (50s), moves among the sick, murmuring prayers—quietly angry at God.

Aino passes water. Her hands are raw.

A SOLDIER thrashes, delirious.

DELIRIOUS SOLDIER
Russians— under the bed—!

Aino grips his face gently.

AINO
No Russians. Only fear.

Elias enters, hat off. He takes in the scale—this isn’t war, it’s collapse.

ELIAS
How many?

Aino doesn’t answer directly.

AINO
How many names do you want to carry?

Father Matti watches Elias—measuring a man’s soul.

FATHER MATTI
(to Elias)
Men confess to me. They don’t confess to officers.

Elias looks away.

ELIAS
What do you need?

Aino: immediate, practical.

AINO
Space. Soap. And stop sleeping stacked like logs.

ELIAS
In this weather—

AINO
In this weather they’ll die warmer if they die separately.

Father Matti steps in, voice low, grave.

FATHER MATTI
The sickness is not just in bodies. It’s in what hunger makes permitted.

Aino meets his eyes: Don’t preach. Help.

Father Matti nods, ashamed—then rolls up his sleeves.

7. EXT. CHURCHYARD — NIGHT

Snow falling like ash.

Miika approaches Elias, hesitant.

MIIKA
Captain… are we going to win?

Elias searches for the lie that would be kind.

ELIAS
We’re going to survive. That’s the job.

Miika nods, not comforted—only instructed.

Elias looks out: a distant glow. A village burning.

8. INT. RUSSIAN FIELD TENT — NIGHT

SUPER: RUSSIAN ADVANCE CAMP — SOUTH OF OULU ROAD

DR. PAVEL SOKOLOV (40s), Russian surgeon, bandages a soldier with calm precision.

COLONEL ARKHIPOV (50s), commander, enters, snow on his coat.

Beside him: IVAN KORNEV (30s), a Russian interpreter—sharp eyes, careful mouth.

ARKHIPOV
They retreat north. We take supplies. We take hostages.

Kornev translates for a FINNISH ELDER dragged in by soldiers—then catches himself: he doesn’t soften it.

Sokolov looks up.

SOKOLOV
Burn food and you feed disease.

Arkhipov smirks.

ARKHIPOV
Fear makes men obey.

Kornev watches Sokolov—quietly admiring anyone brave enough to speak.

Sokolov’s voice stays even.

SOKOLOV
For a while.

9. INT. STOCKHOLM SALON — NIGHT

SUPER: STOCKHOLM — APRIL 1808

Warmth. Silk. Candles.

A map of Europe on a table.

HEDVIG SPARRE (30s–40s) stands over it like a general without uniform.

A MINISTER, a GENERAL, and aristocrats argue.

GENERAL
We will not bow to Napoleon’s blockade.

MINISTER
We will not surrender Finland.

Hedvig taps France and Russia.

HEDVIG
After Tilsit, Russia and France share an interest: forcing Sweden into obedience.

Murmurs—anger at the idea.

MINISTER
We don’t bargain with the Corsican.

HEDVIG
Then we bargain with winter and fever.

She points to Finland.

HEDVIG (CONT'D)
You can fight Russia, or posture at France. If you fight both, Sweden becomes a story other nations tell to scare their children.

A beat.

HEDVIG (CONT'D)
And Finland pays the price first.

10. EXT. TREE LINE — NIGHT

Russian silhouettes in the forest.

Arkhipov raises a hand. Soldiers stop, listening.

The wind carries coughing from the church.

Arkhipov’s voice, low:

ARKHIPOV
Forward.

They advance.

END ACT I

ACT II — THE NORTH GETS SICK

11. EXT. FOREST ROAD — MORNING

SUPER: SUMMER 1808 — NORTHERN FINLAND

The column moves slower. Not from caution— from weakness.

A wagon wheel snaps. The sound is a verdict.

Lager checks his ledger like it can change reality.

LAGER
We’re out of flour by tomorrow.

Adlersköld rides up, furious, cheeks flushed.

ADLERSKÖLD
Why have we stopped?

ELIAS
Because men are dying on their feet.

Adlersköld’s gaze flicks to the sick wagons.

ADLERSKÖLD
Leave the sick behind.

Aino steps forward, eyes flaring.

AINO
You leave them, you leave yourselves. Then you’ll fight like animals.

Adlersköld laughs, too loud.

ADLERSKÖLD
Animals survive.

Elias’s voice is quiet steel.

ELIAS
Animals don’t hold lines.

Father Matti appears behind Aino, calm.

FATHER MATTI
And animals don’t pray.

Adlersköld rides off, disgusted—at them, at himself, at the world.

12. EXT. VILLAGE OUTSKIRTS — DUSK

SUPER: AUGUST 1808 — SMALL VILLAGE NEAR THE OULU RIVER

Smoke from chimneys. Dogs bark—then go silent.

A villager runs to Elias.

VILLAGER
You can’t stay. It’s here.

He touches his neck—swollen glands.

Aino enters a house, sees a family lying together, eyes open but gone.

Aino steps back, steadying herself on the doorframe.

AINO
Not one sickness. Many wearing the same mask.

Father Matti makes the sign of the cross—then stops, angry.

FATHER MATTI
God is tired.

Aino looks at him sharply.

AINO
Then we don’t get to be.

13. INT. RUSSIAN HQ — NIGHT

SUPER: RUSSIAN COMMAND POST

Arkhipov studies requisition lists. Kornev translates reports.

Sokolov points at a line of text.

SOKOLOV
Stop packing civilians into barns. You’re building typhus.

Kornev translates, glancing at Arkhipov—careful.

Arkhipov doesn’t look up.

ARKHIPOV
We need control.

SOKOLOV
Then control your hunger.

Arkhipov finally looks at him.

ARKHIPOV
If the north is sick, let it die. Death clears roads.

Kornev translates. His voice cracks slightly on the word “die.” He hates that it’s his job.

Sokolov’s face goes cold.

SOKOLOV
Death also clears empires.

Arkhipov leans in.

ARKHIPOV
Be careful, doctor.

SOKOLOV
I am. That’s why I’m afraid of you.

Kornev watches this exchange like a man watching a fuse burn.

14. EXT. VILLAGE SQUARE — DAWN

SUPER: SEPTEMBER 1808

Arkhipov’s raid: disciplined brutality.

BATTLE/RAID CHOREO BEATS:
—Russians fan out in pairs; one covers while the other searches.
—Grain sacks hauled to sleds.
—Livestock driven off.
—A barn door kicked open: hidden flour discovered.
—A hostage line formed: men and boys, wrists tied.

Aino steps forward as a SOLDIER drags a boy by the arm.

AINO
He’s twelve.

Kornev translates. He can’t meet her eyes.

Arkhipov replies casually.

ARKHIPOV
Then he’s almost useful.

Kornev translates. The Finnish villagers flinch at the words.

Elias steps in, attempting diplomacy.

ELIAS
Colonel— take supplies. Leave the people.

Arkhipov studies Elias.

ARKHIPOV
You think politeness is armor.

He gestures. A soldier throws a torch—BARN ignites instantly.

Aino’s face reflects fire.

AINO
You’re killing the future.

Arkhipov shrugs.

ARKHIPOV
The future belongs to whoever eats.

Aino freezes at the verb—an omen she doesn’t understand yet.

15. INT. CHURCH WARD — NIGHT

Overflow. Bodies on floor. The sound of coughing is constant.

Miika enters, snow crusted on his hair. He looks wrong—older.

Aino sees him and knows something happened.

AINO
Miika.

Miika swallows hard.

MIIKA
Captain sent me… to the detachment beyond the pass.

Aino waits.

MIIKA (CONT'D)
They were hungry.

Aino’s eyes don’t blink.

AINO
And?

Miika’s voice drops.

MIIKA
There was a pot.
And Corporal Lehto’s boots… by the fire. Cleaned.

Father Matti stops mid-prayer.

Elias enters, catches the end. He reads their faces; he doesn’t need details.

Elias’s mouth tightens.

ELIAS
How far.

Aino answers quietly:

AINO
Not far. Just fast.

16. EXT. SNOWFIELD — DAY

SUPER: NOVEMBER 1808 — EARLY WINTER RETURNS

A sudden clash—Russian skirmishers hit the column’s flank.

BATTLE CHOREO BEATS:
—Russian shots crack from treeline.
—Swedish column compresses instinctively (bad for disease).
—Elias screams: “SPREAD OUT!”
—Lager tries to drag a supply cart; horse panics.
—Aino pulls refugees behind a rock outcrop.
—Father Matti shepherds children low to the ground.
—Adlersköld charges forward on horseback, saber raised—too far.

Elias tackles Adlersköld off the horse as a saber swipe slices air.

They roll in snow.

Adlersköld’s eyes are wild.

ADLERSKÖLD
Let me die like a man!

Elias grabs him by the collar.

ELIAS
Then live like one.

They scramble back.

Elias fires, signals retreat. The column escapes—again.

But men fall behind, coughing and weak, swallowed by distance.

17. INT. STOCKHOLM — GOVERNMENT ROOM — NIGHT

SUPER: JANUARY 1809 — STOCKHOLM

Papers. Raised voices. Anxiety dressed as certainty.

Hedvig stands before the map again.

A GENERAL slams his fist.

GENERAL
We should align with France. If Russia listens to Napoleon, we pull Napoleon’s ear.

Hedvig’s eyes narrow.

HEDVIG
Napoleon doesn’t offer alliances. He offers terms.

A MINISTER, pale, speaks low.

MINISTER
If we lose Finland—

Hedvig cuts him off.

HEDVIG
If we choose wrong, we don’t lose a province. We lose Sweden’s balance. Our spine.

Silence.

A messenger appears, hands a note. The Minister reads; his face drains.

MINISTER
Finland… is lost.

Hedvig closes her eyes once, a contained collapse.

HEDVIG
Then we decide what we become after shame.

END ACT II

ACT III — A COUNTRY BREAKS, ANOTHER IS BORN

18. INT. CHURCH WARD — NIGHT

SUPER: FEBRUARY 1809 — NORTHERN FINLAND

Aino triages by candlelight.

One clean cloth left.

A CHILD wheezes. An OLD MAN shakes with fever. A SOLDIER bleeds.

Aino stands frozen—forced into godhood against her will.

Elias watches her, helpless.

Aino tears the cloth in half—wraps the child first.

The old man sees it, smiles faintly—forgives her without words—then closes his eyes.

Father Matti begins a prayer, stops, and instead hums a lullaby he remembers from childhood.

The ward quiets—not from recovery, but acceptance.

19. EXT. WOODS — PRE-DAWN

Elias leads a small party to find supplies: soap, cloth, salt—anything.

Lager comes too, clutching his ledger like it can ward off death.

They reach a cache beneath floorboards in an abandoned shed.

Lager’s breath catches.

LAGER
Soap.

Elias doesn’t celebrate. He listens.

Boots. Russian voices.

They’re surrounded.

Arkhipov steps out calmly. Kornev beside him.

ARKHIPOV
You run north as if the map ends.

Kornev translates. His tone is neutral; his eyes aren’t.

Elias slowly raises his hands.

ELIAS
People are dying. On both sides.

Arkhipov nods like it’s weather.

ARKHIPOV
Yes.

Sokolov appears behind Arkhipov, watches Elias with something like pity.

Elias’s gaze flicks to Sokolov—doctor to doctor-of-war.

Sokolov gives a tiny shake of his head: Don’t provoke him.

Arkhipov orders them disarmed.

Lager clutches the ledger; a Russian knocks it away. Pages scatter in snow like dead leaves.

20. INT. RUSSIAN CAMP — DAY

Elias and Lager are marched through camp.

Sick Russian soldiers cough. Fever doesn’t respect flags.

Sokolov intercepts Arkhipov.

SOKOLOV
If you pack prisoners with the sick, you spread it faster.

Kornev translates. He hesitates on “prisoners,” as if the word weighs more than it should.

Arkhipov smiles.

ARKHIPOV
Then perhaps your empire of bandages can be useful.

Sokolov steps closer.

SOKOLOV
You want victory? Stop feeding the fever.

Arkhipov’s eyes go flat.

ARKHIPOV
I feed fear. Fear wins.

Sokolov holds his gaze.

SOKOLOV
Fear eats its handler.

Kornev looks away—he believes Sokolov, and that terrifies him.

21. EXT. CHURCHYARD — NIGHT

Miika stands by a fresh grave. No marker.

Aino joins him.

Miika’s voice is hollow.

MIIKA
If we survive… what are we?

Aino looks toward the ward’s flickering light.

AINO
We are what we choose when we’re starving.

Miika swallows hard.

MIIKA
They ate him.

Aino’s breath catches—pain, not surprise.

She places a hand on Miika’s shoulder—steady, firm.

AINO
Then we do not become that.
Not in secret. Not in stories. Not ever.

Miika nods, crying without sound.

Father Matti watches from the doorway, face carved with grief.

22. INT. STOCKHOLM — PRIVATE ROOM — NIGHT

Hedvig alone with a confidant, a YOUNG COURTIER.

COURTIER
Was it all for nothing?

Hedvig stares at the map.

HEDVIG
Nothing? No.
It will change everything.

She touches Finland on the map—like touching a scar.

HEDVIG (CONT'D)
Finland will be governed differently now. Autonomy, they’ll call it. A kinder chain.

The courtier doesn’t understand. Hedvig does.

HEDVIG (CONT'D)
But it was bought with blood the buyer didn’t spill.

23. EXT. NORTHERN ROAD — DAY

Elias is released—why is never explained. War is arbitrary.

He returns to the church and finds fewer moans, more silence.

Aino sits on the floor, back against a pillar, emptied out.

Elias kneels beside her.

ELIAS
Aino.

She looks up. Her eyes are older.

AINO
I did what I could.

ELIAS
I know.

A beat. Elias struggles with the question that will haunt Sweden.

ELIAS (CONT'D)
If Finland becomes something new under Russia… is it mercy?

Aino thinks carefully.

AINO
Autonomy can be a seed.

Elias waits for the rest.

Aino gestures at the ward, the graves, the hunger.

AINO (CONT'D)
Seeds grow in soil.
This is the soil.

Elias swallows.

ELIAS
So… good or bad?

Aino meets his eyes.

AINO
Both. And neither.
It’s survival wearing politics.

24. EXT. FROZEN RIVER — DUSK

SUPER: SPRING 1809 — THE WAR ENDS. THE WINTER DOES NOT FORGIVE.

A smaller line of people moves across the ice now—thinner, quieter.

Miika runs ahead, still running, still alive.

Elias walks beside Aino—not officer and healer, just witnesses.

In the distance, a flag flutters. Not Sweden’s.

Aino watches it without hatred—only truth.

AINO (V.O.)
We lost a war.
We lost a country.
And then—somehow—
we found a name for what remained.

They disappear into white.

FADE OUT.

THE END.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE — WHITE HUNGER

CORE TONE & INTENT

This film is not a heroic war epic.
It is a slow historical suffocation, where war creates the conditions, but plague, hunger, and cold do the killing.

The audience should leave feeling that:

battles are brief and chaotic,
politics are distant and cynical,
and survival itself becomes morally corrosive.

The plague is not background texture.
The plague is a character.

VISUAL PHILOSOPHY

1. CAMERA LANGUAGE

Handheld but restrained — never shaky for spectacle, only when characters are physically weak.
Eye-level framing — avoid heroic low angles. Officers are filmed like everyone else: tired, dirty, compromised.
Long lenses (50–85mm) for plague scenes to compress space and make people feel crowded even when still.
Wide lenses (24–35mm) for landscapes to emphasize indifference of nature.

The land should always feel larger than the people inside it.

HOW TO SHOOT THE PLAGUE (CRITICAL)

DO NOT:

Do not show graphic wounds or gore.
Do not dramatize illness with theatrical coughing fits.
Do not explain disease with exposition.

INSTEAD, SHOW PLAGUE THROUGH:

A) PROXIMITY & BREATH

Characters sleeping too close together.
Fogged breath mixing in candlelight.
One cough triggering several others in sequence.
People turning their faces away instinctively — too late.

B) TIME PASSAGE

Revisit the same room over multiple scenes:
- Fewer people each time.
- More space between bodies.
- Same candle burning lower.
Show who is missing, not who dies.

C) TOUCH AS DANGER

A healer washing hands obsessively.
A soldier hesitating before helping another man stand.
Shared cups, shared blankets — linger on these objects.

D) SOUND DESIGN

Plague should be heard before it’s seen:
- Coughing echoing through walls.
- Weak moans bleeding into exterior scenes.
- Silence where noise used to be.

At times, let the soundtrack drop entirely except for breathing.

LIGHTING STRATEGY

Exterior (War & Movement)

Cold, flat winter light.
Overcast skies whenever possible.
No “beautiful” sunsets during combat — save color for fire and interiors.

Interior (Plague & Hunger)

Single-source lighting:
- candles,
- oil lamps,
- hearth fire.
Faces fall in and out of shadow.
Let light reveal exhaustion before dialogue does.

Light should feel rationed, like food.

BATTLES: FAST, UGLY, UNROMANTIC

Battles should feel over before the audience understands the geography.
No clean victories.
No triumphant music.
Use:
- smoke obscuring friend from enemy,
- orders unheard,
- men firing without knowing if they hit anything.