Film Review - Sisu (2023)

Aatami the reclusive gold panner terrorises a scorched earth ᛋᛋ death squad in this crowd-pleasing bloodbath of supremacist slaughter porn.

There is an unwritten rule in cinema that evil Nazis can die on screen as horribly as possible with relative impunity. Just ask Mr. Spielberg who melted a Gestapo agent’s face off and still nailed a PG rating for Raiders of the Lost Ark. And make no mistake, with their mobile ‘Joy Division’ of sex slaves and a propensity for shooting innocent dogs and burning women and children the Wehrmacht wankers in Sisu are very naughty Nazis indeed.

Director Jalmari Helander grabs this free by the fascist funbags and milks it like a fiend for his stupendously violent war picture. The result is a Third Reich rumble that offers an inexhaustible set list of drowned Nazis, pancaked Nazis, brain-stabbed Nazis, immolated Nazis, hung Nazis, atomised Nazis, perforated rapey Nazis, exploding Nazis, and even Nazis being nasty to other Nazis.

To make double sure his protagonist is up to the bloody workload Helander embraces a second concept, that of the Finnish word Sisu. There is no translatable equivalent in English but essentially it describes unimaginable grit and tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds. An unstoppable desire to spit in the face of fate and divert the course of destiny by kicking it soundly in the balls.

Armed with these twin elements Aatami the rogue army commander turned prospector wages a gore-soaked campaign of intimidation and retribution whilst attaining a near-mythological state of calm determination. Sewing his own innards back in and impaling himself on metal rods is nothing compared to what lies in store for the retreating Nazis if they don’t return his stolen riches.

Dialogue-light and action-heavy Sisu rattles by like an abattoir freight train on a crash course to carnage central. If you ever wondered what a Finnish folklore version of Rambo directed by a less verbose Tarantino would look like then this is it.

In order to fulfill the ridiculously outnumbered ingredient of Sisu the film is forced to place our hero in situations of sheer hopelessness. It is here that Helander‘s ripshit movie truly shines. Each time the ever-resourceful Aatami seems to have had his Nordic chips he outsmarts and outlasts his assailants in the most ingenious fashion. Not least in a jaw-dropping underwater escape sequence that is as sharp as it is savage.

Culty and preposterous it may be, but it’s also gorgeously shot, solidly acted, and stylishly structured. A wonderfully cine-literate movie that gives back as much as it borrows.

Kjell Lagerroos‘ expansive cinematography frames the slay fest with stylish exuberance. He isn’t shy of the odd lens flare as he seamlessly weaves the top-notch CGI into the muddy and bloody Lapland landscape.

Jorma Tommila‘s portrayal of Aatami is superb in its physicality and brutal stoicism. Working with scant backstory, Aatami basically spent the majority of WW2 single-handedly butchering over 300 Russians in the woods, he broods magnificently as a man whose scared body is a ridged and wrinkled road map of pain and savagery.

Also excellent is Aksel Hennie as Bruno the slippery as goose shit ᛋᛋ unit commander. A man so hell-bent on feathering his Nazi nest he treats everyone in his toxic orbit as disposable meat bags, including his own men. It’s an imposing performance that lends a surprising amount of animalistic corporality to his character’s weasley ways. Cringingly cowardly he may be, but a wimpy pushover he ain’t.

Sisu hangs on a framework of witty chapter cards that appear at a breakneck pace, telling the audience what will happen next but never exactly how. It gives an addictive sense of teasing delight reminiscent of a gloriously pulpy novella you just can’t put down.

Helander‘s frenetic flick is an anti-war movie of sorts. A belated counterpoison to the repurposing of cinema by the Nazi propaganda machine. A machine that believed movies have ‘an unimaginable richness of rhythm for intensifying or dispelling emotions‘. But much more than this, it features a curly-coated Bedlington Terrier riding in a motorcycle sidecar.

With its phenomenal gore effects, air-punching payoffs, and heart-pounding pulverisations Sisu is worth every penny of the ission fee.