Tommy and the Wildcat 1998

12-year-old Tommy, Konsta Hietanen, moves to Lapland with his zoologist father Olli Oksa, [Antti Virmavirta]. Olli’s job is to return Leevi the lynx to nature, but reindeer herders fear a predator that could threaten their livelihoods. Olli explains to his late wife’s brother, Uncle Jouko, Risto Tuorila, that Tommy hasn’t fully come to terms with his mother’s death—Maria, Katariina Kaitue, is tied to the lynx’s fate. At Ranua Zoo, Tommy forms a bond with the young lynx and hears from the staff that Leevi may be sold to a Turkish zoo, a move that paints the animal as a commodity rather than a wild creature.

Tommy’s concern grows as the zoo manager, Mikko Kivinen, contemplates the sale. The manager agrees to one last test: if Leevi cannot learn to prey, he will be sold. Leevi fails the predation test, and as Olli contemplates giving up, Tommy’s determination burns brighter. He hides in a truck carrying Leevi, and when Jaska, Rauno Ahonen, halts the car after a run-over fox, Tommy frees the lynx to strike out on its own. The young conservationist Oula, Jussi Puhakka, intervenes, stopping Tommy from feeding the lynx and insisting that the animal must learn to hunt unaided. Leevi is eventually trapped in a cage with a radio beacon, but Tommy refuses to quit, and with Olli arriving, he manages to move the cage away. Thanks to a log raft left by Oula, the boy crosses the river and frees Leevi again.

In the winter, Olli continues to try to track Leevi with little success. Herman Haapala, a local animal stuffer, plans to hunt the lynx. Oula warns that Leevi has little chance if Haapala presses on, and Tommy discovers that Jouko has paid his debt to Haapala by killing the lynx Tommy’s late mother had tried to protect, fueling a fresh rift between them. As the lynx begins raiding Jouko’s geese and Haapala presses forward, Jouko locks Tommy in the barn. Yet a change of heart drives Jouko to join Haapala on snowmobiles, angering Haapala and sending him on his own path again. Tommy slips out on skis with Oula whisking him onto a snowmobile, and the chase continues.

The boys eventually find Leevi, who is trapped and trying to free himself. Haapala arrives, ready to shoot, but Tommy steps between them and fights back. Haapala shrugs off the boy, insisting the lynx is hurt, and as he approaches with a gun, Leevi launches a desperate counterattack, freeing itself and sending both of them plunging down a ravine. Tommy locates a badly hurt Haapala at the ravine’s bottom. He drags the stranger through the forest on a sled, but night falls and frost deepens. The lynx appears and guides Tommy toward a deserted cabin, while a border-guard helicopter sweeps the area with a thermal camera. Soon a search party reaches them, and Tommy’s rescue mission is complete.

Recovery brings reconciliation. Jouko apologizes for having killed the lynx that Tommy’s mother had tried to protect, and Tommy embraces him as a sign of forgiveness. Jouko urges Tommy to care for the lynx he found in the barn and help release it back into the wild. As Tommy prepares to depart with Leevi, Haapala arrives on crutches to offer a gesture of reconciliation and a final, wry counsel: “Take it so far that no one can find it.” Tommy releases Leevi into the snowy wild, tears in his eyes, and watches the lynx vanish into the forest.