The story of the most famous sniper of the Winter War has never before been brought to the silver screen.
The Russians gave Häyhä the name "White Death" — and for good reason.
According to his personal notebook, Häyhä killed 542 Russian soldiers during the 98 days of the Winter War. This is more than any other sniper in the world has achieved in such a short time.
The movie is set during the winter of 1939-1940 on the Kollaa front, where a small group of Finns stood to stop an overwhelmingly superior enemy from invading Finland.
Häyhä was seriously wounded in the battles at Kollaa just a week before the end of the Winter War. He awoke from a coma on the day the war ended.
Due to his injuries, Häyhä was unable to take part in the Continuation War, though he would have wanted to.
Simo Häyhä was born in 1905 in Rautjärvi, Karelia, and passed away as a respected war hero in a veterans' care home in Hamina in 2002.
The film's consultant is Major (ret.) Tapio Saarelainen, who has authored several books about Häyhä.