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Born American (Finnish: Jäätävä polte; also known as Arctic Heat) is a 1986 Finnish film directed by Renny Harlin. It was originally supposed to star Chuck Norris but he backed out when filming was delayed by funding problems and his son, Mike Norris, landed the lead instead. This was at the time the most expensive film ever to have been made in Finland. The Finnish Board of Film Classification initially banned the movie due to excessive violence and anti-Soviet elements. Because of that, the movie had to be shortened 3.5 minutes before it was accepted for distribution. The premiere was December 19, 1986. The success of the film in the United States allowed Harlin to get his foot in the door in Hollywood, giving him his first American directorial work in the 1987 horror film Prison.
In his 2008 book Kohti sinipunaa, Juhani Suomi revealed that the request to ban the movie originated from Vladimir Sobolev, the Soviet Union's ambassador to Finland. Neuvostoliitto oli Renny Harlinin Jäätävän Poltteen kiellon takana, Julkaistu, Iltasanomat, 13 February 2008 12:34
KGB agents torture the three young men until they confess to being American spies and throw them into the brutal general population. KC suffers from an infection that leaves him bedridden, while Mitch is forced into a sick "chess match" where prisoners fight each other to the death.
The U.S. Ambassador tells the Russian prison administrator that it would be best if the young Americans simply disappeared. Savoy meets a prisoner known as The Admiral, a former secret agent who has comfortable living space and luxuries because the KGB wants him to defect to their side, unaware that his plan is to release all of his American and Russian secrets once he escapes with Savoy's help.
KC dies, and Savoy starts his own escape mission. He enlists a young female Russian prisoner, rescues Mitch, and reaches the Admiral before they start a gun battle that kills many guards as well as Mitch.
Savoy and the young woman get near the Finnish border, kill the prison administrator, and get out of the USSR. A postscript reveals that the Admiral escaped to an unknown location, Savoy and the girl are somewhere in the United States, and both Washington and Moscow have denied the entire story.
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