Pölynimurikauppiaat

This is my favorite Finnish documentary, telling a sad story about 3 door-to-door salesmen trying to sell vacuum cleaners. The salesmen eagerly demonstrate the products and use very persuasive selling speeches yet most of the time they fail to sell and even more often are told to try next door.

In early '90s Finland was in a deep economic depression and these guys are trying to sell some very expensive tools for senior citizens, students, unemployed and whatnot. Yet some of them are very optimistic about their future, listening to self-improvement tapes in the car and one guy hopes of a career in selling cars, while the other actually realizes his poor situation.

Unintentional comic moments and the rainy and dark winter evenings create a nice contrast and the bottom line really is that while door-to-door sellers are an annoyance, they are human after all.