Il capitano (1991)

The film has nine chapters with the following titles: The Petty Thief, The Dream, Separation, The Journey, Grains of Sand, The Deck of Cards, The Rabbits, The Escape, and Reconstruction. The film opens with Minna being questioned by the police. They ask her why Jari shot, whether she was afraid of him, whether they always slept in the car, and how they met. A title card then appears with the first chapter heading. The petty thief Minna is waiting for a bus when Jari arrives and more or less forces her to get into his car. They go to Jari’s home. Minna looks through a folder while Jari plays a guitar. The words “Il Capitano” are written on the folder, and Jari says it is his band. The police are heard reading aloud from Jari’s criminal record. The story then moves to a day at school several years earlier. The teacher hands out class photographs, but when Jari realizes he is partly hidden in his, he demands his money back. He then steals a car and is chased and caught by the police. The Dream The police ask Minna what they did in Copenhagen, and about an abortion. Jari thinks they should continue on to Amsterdam, but Minna says she cannot go on. She tells him she is pregnant, and Jari shouts, “Who the fuck asked you to get knocked up? I’m the captain. You’re a soldier.” Separation Minna visits Jari in prison, and he expresses his dissatisfaction that she has not written to him. Minna has got a place of her own, and Jari says, “I know you’re not living alone.” Jari has been released from prison and comes to Minna’s home. He tells her to pack her things and says they are going to Amsterdam. The Journey Jari and Minna travel around by car, and Jari steals what they need. During a break-in at a villa, he finds a double-barreled shotgun in a cupboard. Grains of Sand Jari saws off the barrels of the gun and test-fires it. He ties one end of a string to a bottle and the other to the gun’s trigger. Then he fills the bottle with sand. It is almost full when the gun goes off. The Deck of Cards A large number of people have gathered in a house by the main road to dance. Jari and Minna go there to get something to eat. They dance. The story then returns to Minna’s police interrogation. The police say that the murdered 15-year-old had written in his diary that he was at the dance. They ask Minna whether she saw him, and she replies, “There were so many people.” Jari stops the car in the middle of the night. Minna explains that she wants to go home, and Jari says it is up to her and holds out a deck of cards. The suit of the cards determines which way they go. They park the car in a secluded place. Jari loads his gun and takes it with him in a bag. They walk along the main road, and Jari finds a bicycle and takes it. Minna says someone saw them, and that a car is following them. Jari tells her to run to their car. Two shots are heard, and then Jari is seen chasing someone. When Minna sees him again, he is washing a bloodied knife in a stream. The Rabbits Jari pours gasoline over the car and sets it on fire. Minna screams that two rabbits are still inside, but it is too late to save them. Jari and Minna walk along a road and are offered a ride. The news on the radio reports that two Finnish citizens have been arrested in absentia for three murders. Jari and Minna read about themselves in the newspapers. The Escape The couple are pursued by a police helicopter, but manage to stay hidden all the way to Denmark, where they are arrested at a railway station. Reconstruction The police reconstruct the murders, and Jari then claims that Minna committed them. This is followed by a police interrogation of Minna. The film ends with the following text: “On the night of July 3, 1988, three innocent people were murdered in a cemetery in a village in Västerbotten: a man, his wife, and their fifteen-year-old son. This is why this film was made.”