"Sisu": review

Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) digs for gold.

"Sisu" is a 2022 Finnish action film set during World War II, in 1944. The movie's premise and plot are simple enough: Finland is still occupied by Nazis, who know by now that they are losing the war. This motivates the Nazis in Scandinavia to adopt a scorched-earth policy as German divisions slowly and reluctantly pull out. A lone Finnish ex-soldier, meanwhile, has abandoned fighting in favor of prospecting for gold. He finds a huge vein of it, which he must now pack up and track across miles of scrub territory, some of it turned into minefields, much of it peppered with random Nazis, to reach a town with a bank that can convert his money to bills. The movie is directed by Jalmari Helander and stars Jorma Tommila and Aksel Hennie as the Finnish protagonist and main Nazi antagonist, respectively.

The Finnish soldier is Aatami Korpi, and he's not named until about halfway through the spare, 91-minute story. Korpi has no lines until the very last few seconds of the story; as a result, much of what we learn about him comes from exposition dumps made by other characters in much the same way that we learn about John Wick through the fearful whispers of his enemies. At first, Korpi seems like a determined old man digging and panning for gold, but as time goes on, we learn he used to be the most deadly, ruthless Finnish commando in history, with a Russian kill count of over 300, plus a rapidly mounting German kill count. Korpi finds a mother lode of gold, and as he treks toward a town with a bank, he encounters more than his share of Nazis, who take his gold and try, several times, to leave Korpi for dead.

But one Finnish woman describes Korpi to a Nazi: he may not be immortal (one of Korpi's Russian nicknames is Koschei, or "Immortal"), but he refuses to die. Shoot him, stab him, hang him, blow him up with a mine, crash him in a plane—it doesn't matter. Korpi always hangs on determinedly. Slash him open with a blade, and he sews himself up. Wound him with a bullet, and he pops the round out with a knife and stuffs the wound with dirt. The movie's title, "Sisu," supposedly comes from a hard-to-translate Finnish term referring to this "white-knuckled" determination, this holding on when all else has been lost. Korpi doesn't have the over-muscled look of an American action hero, but he exudes a steely-eyed, leathery toughness that promises death for anyone who gets between him and his newfound gold.

Korpi has no family left: he lost everyone in earlier conflicts. His only family now consists of a dutiful horse and a nappy-haired dog, and he loses the horse in a minefield, with the horse's body largely protecting Korpi when the mine explodes. Having borne so much loss already, Korpi mourns the death of his steed, but since he's being pursued by Nazis (whom he pursues in turn), he can't grieve for very long.

The main antagonist is Nazi officer Bruno Helldorf (Helldorf = "Brightvillage") who, after briefly encountering Korpi, realizes that Korpi's gold represents an escape: with World War II ending soon, and with the Nazis knowing they're going to lose, Helldorf realizes that a return to Germany means his probable execution by hanging. With gold, though, he has a ticket away from the war and away from Germany. Helldorf and Korpi trade roles as pursuer and pursued, with Helldorf and his squad initially chasing after Korpi and stealing his gold, then with Korpi chasing after Helldorf to get his gold back. The plot of "Sisu" is simple, stark, and linear, with some wrinkles thrown in the way like a group of captured women, some of whom know of Korpi "the one-man death squad" by reputation.

The film is a smorgasbord of sounds and images. Dialogue is mostly in English and strangely anachronistic-sounding. We only hear Finnish dialogue—subtitled, of course—at the very end of the film. The cinematography is often incredible as we take in large swaths of spartan-looking Finnish terrain; the musical soundtrack generally matches the film's gritty mood. The acting is all spot-on, with Jorma Tommila totally convincing as an old, unstoppable badass, and Aksel Hennie as a ruthless-yet-human Nazi commanding officer willing to disobey orders to acquire his golden prize. I've seen some critical complaints about the film's pacing, but I had no problem with it: the starkness of the scenery and the deliberateness of the plot both conspired to make the story compelling.

Then, of course, there's the tons of gore. "Sisu" is a throwback to '80s-era American action movies, with the implausible physics combined with a steaming ton of blood and guts. For as much abuse as Korpi takes, the Nazis all get it worse as they're by turns shot, stabbed through the head, strangled, killed with bricks, blown up by mines, crushed by their own vehicles, and murdered underwater. One gross-but-hilarious scene has Korpi hiding in a lake; as the Nazis swim down to look for him, he deeply slits their throats and breathes in fresh air straight from their lungs, allowing him to stay underwater longer. That has to be one of the most awesome action moves I've ever seen. With plenty of digital blood and free-flying intestines punctuating the fighting, "Sisu" is not for the faint of heart, but the action is all crafted in the spirit of cartoonish fun. The movie is also smart enough to include one scene in which Korpi uses a shield to protect his body from a hail of German bullets, Wonder Woman-style. The viewer immediately wants to know why the Nazis didn't go for Korpi's exposed legs, but in a later scene, we find out that they did, and they hit him, too. Another bullet for Korpi to pull out of his body. Another wound for him to patch up.

I didn't realize, at first, that Aksel Hennie, who is German, was the main villain. He was the only bad guy who actually looked and sounded German: many of the other actors playing Nazis (including Jalmari Helander regular Onni Tommila, son of Jorma, and costar, with Samuel Jackson, in the Helander movie "Big Game") looked Scandinavian. All I knew, before I looked up the movie's cast list, was that Hennie seemed familiar, and when I finally saw his name, I realized he'd played the lone German scientist in "The Martian." In that movie, Hennie's character was gentle, thoughtful, and friendly if a bit quirky. In "Sisu," Hennie's sad eyes make for an interesting counterpoint to his character's ruthlessness, giving his Bruno Helldorf a strange thoughtfulness. I did have to wonder about how Hennie felt playing yet another Nazi; do modern German actors ever get sick of the typecasting?

So, yes, this is a movie filled with ridiculous implausibilities (think: 1988's "Die Hard"), but it's all meant to drive home the Finnish value or quality of sisu, that white-knuckled determination, that grit in the face of ultimate adversity, that inability to give up despite insurmountable odds. The movie was a breath of fresh air in an increasingly PC world, and for those of us who remember '80s action films, "Sisu" felt like the ultimate fan service. If you're into action flicks, this is definitely a film for you.