The airplane hijacking is most assuredly high on the list of no-go areas for big studio comedies in post-911 America. When it comes down to it, in fact, I don't think I can come up with a single comedy that has gone down this particular road at all, the idea of an armed gunman taking over a plane not striking most as particularly fertile comedy ground, apparently. But the Finns are not most people and they've done just that.
The year is 1978. Aaro Lamminparras is a down-on-his-luck businessman,
always patriotic and full of good intentions - but often cheated by his
partners.
One drunken evening in Oulu he argues with his wife on the telephone and
ends up spending the night with his friend, sergeant Lönnroth, an avid
hunter and a gun collector. In the morning Lamminparras decides to fly
to Helsinki to talk things over with his wife. In the plane he is
surprised to find a handgun in his briefcase - and on a whim, he hijacks
the plane, while visiting the cockpit.
This starts a hilarious chain of events - both inside the plane and
outside. It is Easter and the whole country is more or less closed. The
politicians are partying, the media is surprised, the police is taken by
shock and the rumors are outrageous ... What happened? Was it all planned? Did the hijacker have inside help?
Who knows?
Aleksi Mäkelä's
The Hijack That Went South (
Kaappari) has released its first trailer online and with its period setting and sly sense of humor it reminds more than a little of the recent
OSS 117 films. Check it below.