Sisu
2022
****
Director: Jalmari Helander
Cast: Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Paul Anderson, Mimosa Willamo, Onni Tommila
Like Rare Exports and Big Game, Jalmari Helander's third feature is set in the north of Finland. During the Lapland War in 1944, Finnish war hero turned gold prospector Aatami Korpi tries to mind his own business, but he is forced into a clash with a retreating Nazi squad. This is an entertaining and deliberately paced action drama, which doesn't outstay its welcome. The movie's brutal violence, Spaghetti Western esthetics, and cartoonish Nazis owe a thing or two to Quentin Tarantino, although he surely would have handed in a movie almost twice as long. Helander stretches credibility to the maximum, but provides an explanation in the dialogue: The hero is not immortal, he just refuses to die. However, the disappointing fact that the German characters speak English cannot be explained.
