Sisu
In the wilderness of Lapland, the sparse vegetation dotted with trees whose leaves are faded autumnal gold, a man who has forsaken the war lives alone with only his campfire and the clothes on his back, his sole companions his dog and his horse, but while he has left the world behind the bombers fly overhead and beyond the horizon the explosions of dropping bombs reflect off the clouds and echo through the mountains.
It is 1944 and the war is in its dying days, the occupying Nazis knowing they have lost and fleeing Finland to safety, adopting a “scorched earth” policy to deter their pursuers, sowing minefields, burning towns, leaving bodies hanging from every telegraph pole and holding women as hostages in their convoys, but tank commander Obersturmführer Bruno Helldorf has not met the likes of Aatami Korpi, known as “the Immortal,” former Finnish commando and veteran of the Winter War with Russia, a man too stubborn and filled with rage to die.
Written and directed by Rare Exports‘ Jalmari Helander and reuniting him with two of the leads of that film, Jorma Tommila as Korpi and Onni Tommila as tank driver Schütze alongside The Middle Man‘s Aksel Hennie as Helldorf, Sisu takes its name from a Finnish word with no direct translation described as “a white-knuckled courage and unimaginable determination,” expressed in every frame of Helander’s film and every line etched in Tommila’s face.
Structured as a western, one silent man whose relentless actions speak for him against insurmountable odds, Korpi’s righteous fury is matched by Helldorf’s will to survive, his ruthlessness and indifferent cruelty, casually shooting his men for insubordination and roping his prisoners and sending them across the minefield in his attempt to track Korpi and take the glittering prize he carries.
Divided into chapters as each new challenge between the two men is presented, Sisu is gleefully crammed with outrageous violence, violations of bodies and decency and in the latter segments the laws of physics, but it does not to purport to represent truth so much as present a fable, Korpi a primal force defending his land and its people against invaders and aggressors, thrashing Nazis as thoroughly as did Freaks Out which also enjoyed a screening at FrightFest.
Unfolding in a compact and breathless ninety-one minutes of shattered ribcages, battlefield first aid, crushed heads, airborne limbs and landmine frisbees which leave a trail of mutilated uniformed bodies, Sisu revels in its excesses, escalating as it progresses to its final confrontation between the unstoppable force and the immovable object, brimming with rage and untainted by subtlety or tact.
Sisu will be released later this year by Lionsgate
The Glasgow Film Festival has now concluded
