Major spoilers ahead for Sisu. You’ve been warned.
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One of Hollywood’s favorite (and most lucrative) stories is that of the lone hero (because it’s usually a guy) who finds himself in a world of trouble through no fault of his own. Said hero then proceeds to fight his way out of the situation through loads of violence, destroying the villains who made the mistake of underestimating him.
Sounds like a ton of movies we’ve already seen, right? And you’d think, given how extremely overused the premise is, that we’d all be tired of seeing it – but we’re not. We still love the hell out of it. And while some flicks do a better job than others, it’s a story that never gets old.
And so it is with Sisu, which begins by explaining that “sisu,” a Finnish word, has no direct translation. It refers to the courage, strength and determination one displays in a dire situation. Then there’s a bit of stage-setting: it’s World War II, and a voiceover tells us about the armistice between the Soviet Union and Finland. As both sides work to drive the Nazis out, the Nazis adopt “scorched earth” tactics – destroying every town, village, road and bridge, and pillaging whatever they can on their way out the door.
In the subarctic wilderness of Lapland in Finland (beautifully photographed by Kjell Lagerroos), we meet our hero, Aatami (Jorma Tommila). Accompanied only by his dog and his horse, he pans for gold in the streams. Given his grizzled, dirty appearance, we get the sense that he’s been out there for quite a while. We also get the sense that he’s alone because he needs to be. As the voiceover also tells us, Aatami has “turned his back on the war.” He’s someone who’s seen and done terrible things and needs solitude to clear his head.
Aatami eventually finds a tiny speck of gold and starts digging holes all around the stream. Not small holes, either – giant man-sized ones. He’s so focused on the job that he pays no attention to the fleets of German bombers flying overhead, and only vaguely acknowledges hearing fighting going on in the distance.
And eventually his focus pays off. In one of the holes, he finds a sizable vein of gold. He’s so surprised, overjoyed and relieved that he cries. Great scene. He breaks up the gold into nuggets and packs it away in his saddlebags. Then he breaks camp and starts riding back toward the closest city to get to a bank.
Enter history’s ultimate villains. A group of Nazis slowly makes their way toward Norway, including a tank and a truck carrying female prisoners that we just know they’ve been raping. The soldiers eye Aatami as he passes them by, but the commander, Bruno (Askel Hennie) decides to leave him alone, saying he’s dead anyway.
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We can only assume he’s referring to the next bunch of Nazis Aatami runs into. Their SS leader (Tatu Sinisalo) makes the fateful decision to mess with our hero, demanding to see what he’s carrying. Once they find the gold, they’re determined to take it.
We know sh*t’s about to go down when Aatami tells his dog to run away. Then he takes a huge knife and stabs the SS guy all the way through his head. It’s the kind of moment where you hear the entire audience go, “Whoa!” And it’s on from there, Aatami quickly dispatching the rest of the group with enough gore to stain his entire face with blood. Then he gets back on his horse and keeps going.
Having heard the commotion, Commander Bruno and his gang turn back, find the massacre and a bit of the gold left behind. Determined to get it, they catch up with Aatami and open fire. Aatami and his horse manage to maneuver through the gunfire, but then they run over a mine and the poor horse gets blown to bits. There’s a brief, affecting moment as Aatami mourns for his dear friend before he has to hide.
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Aatami sets off one of the mines to create some camouflaging smoke. Commander Bruno sends in one soldier after another, all of them setting off the mines and getting spectacularly splattered. Running out of guys, Bruno makes two of the women walk ahead of the convoy instead. As they slowly roll forward, Bruno’s main guy, Wolf (Jack Doolan), shows Bruno the dog tags they found amongst the gore, dog tags belonging to Aatami.
Wolf recognizes the number and regales Bruno with the story of the man the Russians call “The Immortal” or “Koschei.” During the Winter War in 1939, Aatami/Koschei lost his family. After that, he became a killing machine, impossible to control, so the Finns just let him loose on the Russians. According to the legend, Koschei racked up over 300 Russian kills. Though clearly bothered by the story, Bruno tells Wolf that the end of the war’s coming. And with it will come the trials for war crimes and their inevitable executions. Aatami’s gold is their way out.
Aatami shows off his superpowers by rolling underneath one of the convoy trucks and hanging there while he punches a hole in its gas tank. He gets covered with the leaking gas, which masks his scent from the Nazis’ dogs. But it isn’t long before they find him, allowing Aatami to show off another superpower: his ability to survive setting himself on fire as he runs and jumps into a lake. Yeah, he sets himself on fire. I know, right?
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Commander Bruno sends more guys after him by boat. They dive in after him but Aatami kills them underwater, slitting their throats and, in a total badass move, uses the air escaping from their necks to keep himself from having to surface. Aatami escapes on the boat, but Bruno has Aatami’s dog.
Aatami comes to a burned-out town and gas station, where we get to see Aatami tend to his wounds – because Hollywood knows how much we all love to watch self-surgery. Then Aatami’s dog comes running to him with a stick of dynamite attached to him. Aatami manages to chuck the dynamite, but the explosion throws them both.
Bruno, Wolf and the tank driver, Schutze (Onni Tommila) grab Aatami and get a noose around his neck, hanging him from the gas station sign. Once they’re satisfied enough that Aatami’s dead, they take off with the bags of gold. Of course, Aatami’s not really dead, but he’s not doing so well, either. In order to keep himself from strangling to death, Aatami has to hook himself to the pole. And in one of the flick’s most cringey moments, he does it by running a spike coming out of the pole through an open wound on his leg.
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The following day, a Nazi plane lands by the gas station to find fuel. The pilots laugh at what they think is Aatami’s hanging corpse – but of course, he’s alive. He dispatches them both, making off with the plane (because of course, he knows how to fly it). And it isn’t long before Bruno and company find their way through blocked by the crashed plane.
Then Aatami (who didn’t die in the plane crash) starts picking off what’s left of the convoy. He takes their guns and gives them to the women. And one of them, Aino (Mimosa Willamo), helps Aatami by driving the truck and getting him to the tank. And while Aino and the other women take out a bunch more of the Nazis, Aatami gets into the tank. He chucks Wolf out onto the ground, leaving him at the mercy of the women.
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Aatami catches up to Bruno as he’s getting ready to take off in another plane headed for Norway. And in true superhero fashion, Aatami uses his pickaxe to latch onto the underside of the plane and cut his way into the cargo hold. Then it’s time for the big bads to have it out, as Aatami and Bruno beat the crap out of each other. Bruno uses one of those hanging lines with hooks on the end as an extra on his fist, slicing up Aatami’s cheek.
But of course, it’s our hero who gets the last word, as Aatami grabs that hook and latches it onto a bomb that’s sitting in the bay. And as he drops it, Bruno gets hauled out with it. He makes sure to shout a defiant “F**k you!” as he falls with the bomb Dr. Strangelove-style and blows up with it. But wait! There’s more! The plane starts nosediving and Aatami discovers the pilot’s dead. All he can do is wrap himself up in a bunch of cables and brace for impact.
Then we cut to Aino and the rest of the women, who drive the tank up to a checkpoint. Needless to say the Finnish army’s surprised, especially when they see a defeated Wolf tied to the tank gun. And when we cut back to the crashed plane our victorious, reluctant hero Aatami pulls himself up out of the swampy wreckage and, of course, reunites with his dog.
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Finally, we cut to a war-ravaged Helsinki. Aatami arrives in one of the Nazi motorcycles, dog in tow, as he goes into a bank. All of the well-dressed Finns give him a wide berth as he strolls in with his saddlebags and pickaxe, dumping the gold out in front of the shocked teller (Aamu Milonoff). And in his only words in the whole flick, asks for big bills. “They won’t be such a b*tch to carry,” he says, in a calm, demure voice that’s the total opposite of the killing machine we’ve been watching.
***
Sisu is exceedingly simple in its purpose: a lean, hard-hitting, ultra-violent action spectacle in a ’70s grindhouse/spaghetti western style. No more, no less. Sisu revels in the ridiculous, even giving the story chapters with names like “Kill ‘Em All” in big, fat text, which makes the flick even more fun than it should be.
Jorma Tommila’s performance is absolutely perfect. He’s able to convey Aatami’s joy, pain, fatigue, suffering and anger with just a look. Askel Hennie and the other actors playing the Nazis do an admirable job of making their characters as despicable as they need to be. Mimosa Willamo and the rest of the women also offer up performances as strong as they are (mostly) silent.
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My only complaint about the flick – and it’s not even really a complaint – just more of a thought that maybe, had director Jalmari Helander decided to handle the flick’s style in a different way, he might have had a serious awards contender on his hands. Because as much fun as Sisu is, its gleefully obnoxious style isn’t necessary. With a quieter, more contemplative approach (think The Revenant), Sisu could have ended up as a much more serious character study of Aatami that would have been just as fascinating, with much more emotional heft.
As it is, though, Sisu is big, loud, gory, nasty fun. It’s definitely not for everyone, but hey, if you just want to watch a bunch of Nazis get what’s coming to them, it’s the best thing you’ll see this year.
Written and Directed by: Jalmari Helander
Release Date: April 28, 2023 (originally premiered at TIFF in 2022)
Rating: R
Run Time: 1 hr 31 min
Distributor: Lionsgate
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