Sisu (2023)

Score: 3.5 / 5

I never really thought a Finnish action movie about World War II could be so entertaining. Sisu is indeed a war film but mostly devoid of actual war, a rousing action thriller that is also an arresting character drama, and a hilarious comedy soaked in blood and pain. The title word is apparently difficult to translate to English, but seems to refer to determination so strong that it supersedes death itself; it refers most clearly to the protagonist, whose deadly prowess as a commando earned him the title "The Immortal" before he retired and became a hermit and a gold prospector. Now he's a legend among Communists and Nazis -- and presumably his fellow Finns -- and his isolated existence in the Lapland region allows him near complete peace.

Until, that is, the Soviets agree to end the conflict if Finland sends the Germans back home. The retreating Germans adopt a scorched earth and land mine policy, leaving the rural tundra dangerous and barren. On their march, one troop of Germans comes across the protagonist, Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), who has recently discovered significant amounts of gold. He's a bearded, grizzled man, filthy and unassuming, and he clearly hopes to be ignored by the Nazis. We had seen him previously ignoring the sounds of battle in the distance, as he seems willfully to distance himself from the conflict. One band of Nazis pass him by, but a smaller second group following accosts him; discovering his gold nuggets, they prepare to execute him and his beloved dog, and then his skills are made clear as he slaughters them. The sounds of battle attract the first, larger, platoon, led by a terrifying SS officer named Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie), who pursues Aatami in his tank, with his platoon and captive Finnish women in tow. 

And so begins a bizarre and haunting cat-and-mouse chase across the bleak landscape between the Nazis and the lone killing machine. It doesn't take long for Sisu to tip from arthouse thriller to full-blown exploitation flick, with writer/director Jalmari Helander paying more than a little homage to spaghetti Westerns and '80s action classics like First Blood and Predator. We're not quite sure why Bruno is so determined to destroy Aatami, other than that he's a bloodthirsty and cruel Nazi, but there is a hint that with the war coming to an end and potential charges of war crimes heading his way, the gold might pay for his freedom. Who knows why Aatami wants the money for himself, but it's fascinating that the film slyly avoids the usual connotations of prospectors being colonists and capitalists who rape the land before they claim it (or trash it). Instead, he's a quiet hero, almost a guardian, taking the gold to protect his land's resources and, hopefully, to help rebuild the demolished infrastructure of his homeland after the terrors wrought by the colonizing Nazis.  In this way, the film is deeply nationalistic, which is an increasingly scary descriptor these days in America; it's surprisingly refreshing to see the sentiment embraced in another context. Think The Patriot, though again without the somewhat problematic basis.

Sisu works best, it should be noted, as a wild ride through action movie creativity. I was not ready for the sheer amount of point-blank black humor in this movie, which looks and feels so bleak that you certainly shouldn't be laughing aloud. But you do, both from the inventive and gory violence as well as the sheer absurdity of the more elaborate action sequences. Aatami picks his way through landmine fields before lobbing some directly at his Nazi pursuers, blowing them up headfirst. They lynch him near a roadside station and he manages to survive against all odds. He hides underwater by slicing Nazi throats and breathing their air bubbles. He helps the captured Finnish women escape and rise up against the Nazis themselves (very reminiscent of Mad Max: Fury Road and Free State of Jones). And then there's the climactic sequence on a plane which -- well, the less said about that the better. Just watch and enjoy it! Apparently unkillable as many action superheroes these days, he's also infinitely more interesting than most of the MCU or DC characters, even though he has only a single line uttered at the very end of the movie, and he looks like a bloody, muddy creature of the swamps more than a savior. But that only adds to the unique charm of this weird, fabulous flick.