The Last Border

The Last Border (Finnish: The Last Border – viimeisellä rajalla^[1]) is a 1993 Finnish post-apocalyptic film directed, written, and produced by Mika Kaurismäki, starring Jolyon Baker, Jürgen Prochnow, Fanny Bastien and Kari Väänänen. The film takes place in the near future for 2009, when global pollution has forced people to move to the Arctic Circle, being the only viable territory.

The Last Border
Directed by	Mika Kaurismäki
Written by	Mika Kaurismäki Pia Tikka Alexandra Deman
Produced by	Mika Kaurismäki
Starring	Jolyon Baker Jürgen Prochnow Fanny Bastien Kari Väänänen
Cinematography	Timo Salminen
Music by	Anssi Tikanmäki
Release dates	20 August 1993 (1993-08-20) (Finland) 12 September 1993 (1993-09-12) (Canada)
Running time	105 minutes
Countries	Finland, Germany, Sweden, France
Language	English

The film was premiered at the 1993 Toronto International Film Festival.

Cast

• Jolyon Baker as Jake
• Jürgen Prochnow as Duke
• Fanny Bastien as Doaiva
• Kari Väänänen as Borka
• Matti Pellonpää as Dimitri
• Soli Labbart as Old woman
• Clas-Ove Bruun as Skunk
• Jussi Lampi as Rabbit
• Juice Leskinen as Bartender
• Esko Salminen as Jake's father
• Jochen Nickel as Beggar
• Mato Valtonen as Drunkard
• Sakke Järvenpää as Biker

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives The Last Border a score of 12% based on 60 ratings by audience.^[2]

In Variety magazine's October 1993 review, Emanuel Levy called film "a spoof of the Mad Max cult films." He comments, that the film's "subtle humor and moderate violence (by today's standards) may disappoint viewers expecting excessive treatment of such matters", but also said, that its "impressive visual design and strong perfs by Matti Pellonpää and Jürgen Prochnow could broaden satire's commercial prospects beyond the midnight circuit."^[3]