Television | Mia Halme, who directed the HBO documentary about Marin’s board of directors, tells what is important to her in the background of the “five”

Sanna Marini (sd) in the documentary series about the top five of the government, which will be published next week, it is promised to tell about the women behind the public image. Three-piece Five selected series is the first Finnish documentary of the streaming service HBO Max.

Supervisor Mia Halme says that he was unusually enthusiastic about the work and expects that now others will see it as well.

In particular, she wants the audience to see many lines and touching moments related to feminism and female leaders.

As one of these, he mentions the situation in which Prime Minister Marin dared to throw himself when talking about the events in Ukraine. While filming it, both the director and Marini started crying.

“Even though there had been the terribly stupid news before that, is a politician allowed to show his feelings. Which really says a lot about the Finnish media,” Halme tells STT.

As another example, he brings up the situation where, when talking about NATO, the finance minister Annika Saarikko (middle) talked about it through his children.

“How his children play Putin and Zelensky.”

In addition to Marin and Saariko, the five also included the Minister of Education Lee Andersson (left), Minister of the Environment and Climate Maria Ohisalo (green) and the Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson (r).

Halme says that he wanted to make a documentary series about the top five of Marini’s board because he considers the board to be exceptional.

He emphasizes that it is not a political series, but more about how the five acted and handled things. For this reason, the documentary shows, for example, an information session organized for children during the corona virus, which Halme thought was exceptional.

“It has not been part of the political agenda to talk to children separately about anything.”

Halme also considers it a big deal that the series tells about the backgrounds of the five. For her herself, the fact that none of the women grew up in a traditional nuclear family explains many things.

“I feel that they have values ​​and they are somehow quite fair-minded people. Perhaps none of them have taken things for granted. I’ve had to look at some things from a marginal perspective at a very young age,” he reflects.

“I consider it an advantage in a way. That they have been able to find their own path and that they have been able to be strong through that. I think there is something significant about that, that it really applies to the whole five.”

Halme points out that the backgrounds of the five also tell us something about Finland, where a free education system, housing allowance and study allowance have given young people opportunities. He considers the effects of possible future surgeries on this.

“Can we have people like they have been, for example? Or do we have the children of politicians politicians and business leaders of business leaders?”

Five has attracted interest especially internationally also because they are all women. Halme says that this theme is discussed a lot in the documentary as well. For her herself, it was important to bring out certain feminist perspectives.

As young women, Viisikko, for example, changed the image of what kind of person a politician can be.

However, Halme emphasizes that not everything can be reduced to the question of gender. He points out that the five could have also included five very different women, in which case the final result would have been different.

“They have been a really good combo. What have they gotten out of each other and out of each other at some point. And were able to create a certain atmosphere of trust.”

Halme says that, according to his experience, the members of the five are exactly what they are used to seeing in the media, and the making of the documentary did not bring him any surprises in this regard.

“They don’t try to be Teflon like that, but they dare to show that now I’m absolutely crazy, or now I’m moved, or now I’m laughed at, or I can joke.”

Documentary series is also going to international distribution and therefore it has been made all along with both international and Finnish audiences in mind. According to Halmee, this has required balancing, because the Finnish public has not wanted to show too much self-evident material.

The international audience, on the other hand, is especially interested in Sanna Marin and her movement in the world, and because of this, a lot of archival material has been used in the series.

Halme says that the international interest in the series has been great. There have been especially many interview requests for Marin, who however does not give them from the series.

Although the project has been inspiring for Halmee, someone else can make a documentary about a possible future right-wing government.

“This is the government that awakened that passion in me.”