Describe This Movie In One Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Quote:
INDIANA JONES: Nazis. I hate these guys.Brief Plot Synopsis: Finnish fortune hunter finishes off fascists.
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 4 Auric Goldfingers out of 5.
Tagline: "Vengeance is golden."
Better Tagline: "They did Nazi that coming."
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Lapland prospector Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) has struck it rich. Unfortunately, the year is 1944 and it's 563 miles through Nazi territory to the nearest reputable financial institution. Undaunted, Korpi sets off and runs afoul of a Wehrmacht platoon led by brutal SS officer Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie). Bad news for Helldorf, who soon discovers Korpi isn't just some old dude, he's a former Finnish commando nicknamed "The Immortal." And he's all out of bubble gum.
"Critical" Analysis: Sisu is what you get when a director (in this case, Jalmari Helander, of the similarly over-the-top Big Game) decides that was the world really needs more of is a WWII revenge flick shot in the style of a spaghetti western. Oh, and with as much gore as possible.
As it turns out, he's right. The only thing more beautiful than Kjell Lagerroos's breathtaking cinematography is the sheer glee of watching Korpi shoot, slash, and explode-ify his way through the German ranks. Helander correctly assumes the audience for Sisu wants to see Nazis — really the last unambiguous villains left — slaughtered in the most hideous ways possible.
To that end, Sisu is very ... wet. Just in terms of onscreen plasma, this would probably make an excellent double-feature pairing with Evil Dead Rise.
Tommila's grim visage does a lot of heavy lifting here, especially since his character notably says nothing until the film's final minutes. This is, one assumes (after a quick Google search), a proper depiction of the actual concept of "sisu," which is a Finnish expression denoting tenacity, bravery, and stoicism. Must be hard to talk a lot when you're responsible for an entire national identity.
If you're wondering why the Germans insist on pursuit, even after Korpi is revealed to be a former hero of the Winter War who "refuses to die," well, there's gold in them thar saddlebags. With the end of the war looming, Helldorf sees the writing on the wall, and would rather exit in the lap of luxury instead of at the end of a Soviet noose.
Helander also knows that, while we want to see the hero triumph, it's more satisfying if he's put through the wringer a bit, like a Laplander John McClane. Korpi survives getting shot, set on fire, and multiple vehicular catastropes. But as long as he's lobbing land mines onto hapless Nazis, who cares?
And lest you find yourself pitying these doomed Krauts, Helander goes out of his way to make them as loathsome as they are in real life. Indeed, the most unpleasant part of the movie may be the truckload of female hostages/victims the Germans are dragging along. "Happily," it all works out, as demonstrated in a satisfying turn by Mimosa Willamo (how can you not love that name?).
As long as you're not too hung up on things like whether a body used as a human shield can stop multiple .50 caliber rounds, or if one can actually suck oxygen from a sliced trachea, or if you can survive a plane crashing nose first into the earth, and if you enjoy Nazis being messily exterminated (and who doesn't?), then Sisu may very well be your jam.
Sisu is in theaters today. Maybe consider a double-feature with Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret?
