Sisu Movie Review: Stoic hardiness and the beauty of Finnish Western

Perhaps, one of the most interesting things about Sisu is that the film is built on the foundations of a single word and the philosophy it espouses. Sisu is a Finnish word that is supposedly untranslatable. The closest English translations are grit, tenacity or willpower. It is the reserve potential, a mental and physical capacity, that one draws upon when faced with overwhelming odds. The fact that the film stays focused on displaying Sisu might be its greatest strength as well as its weakness. 

Director: Jalmari Helander
Cast: Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Mimosa Willamo

As the film begins, we are taken back to the tail end of the Second World War. The Axis Powers are facing crushing blows from all fronts. The end of the war is nigh but like the old adage that goes, “A wounded snake is more dangerous than a healthy one,” the Nazi forces on their way out of Finland, unleash the most destruction on their way out. A company of Nazi soldiers on their way back to Germany come across an old gold miner, who is journeying back home after unearthing a big deposit of gold. What happens later is two hours of intense, unbridled carnage. Jorma Tommila, who plays the gold miner/former commander Aatami, delivers an intense performance that accentuates the narrative flow as much as the screenplay does. 

The film has the DNA of a spaghetti western: a man-of-few-words protagonist, the lawlessness of a country ravaged by war, a cache of gold fueling the central conflict, characters trudging through a dry and arid landscape, plenty of guns, blood, and gore. Like how the Italians brought grey characters and a grimy world to the pristine Western of the 40s and 50s, the Finns add their own flavour to the genre. The action in Sisu, while gripping, is not reliant on speed and momentum, and sequences with stretched-out, jittery turbulence. Instead, we get moments of silent rumination with our protagonist. The quieter moments are so heavily felt that when the violence begins, it is felt with a ruthless, sudden jolt. While pensive moments are not a novel addition to a Western, these moments in Sisu are there for their own sake and not always to add character moments and exposition.

However, the film does have its expositions which drag down the quality of the experience. Using bad guys to recite the rich legacy of the hero has been an overused narrative tool since forever. It was mildly amusing when it made a comeback with the earlier John Wick films but it has enjoyed its comeback long enough. The sincerity in storytelling is sacrificed for attempts at supposed ‘goosebump-inducing moments’ like when the Nazi soldiers drop their guns and run away after witnessing the ruthlessness of Aatami or when soldiers start questioning if the Finnish commando is actually immortal. The film could have also benefited from keeping Aatami’s past shrouded in mystery. The way in which Aatami’s past as a legendary Finnish commander is peppered throughout the film, delivered through fear-laced lines from Nazi soldiers, is heavily reminiscent of John Wick and its predecessors. However, the film does redeem itself with focused storytelling, inventive action set pieces, and pushing the limits of violence without making us feel too uncomfortable. 

Despite the multiple shortcomings, the film manages to keep us entertained because its central philosophy echoes the primordial makeup of every story, which has always talked about the insurmountable force of sheer will, that untapped potential that all of our heroes tap into to overcome evil greater than themselves. With exorbitant amounts of glorious violence, Sisu does a competent job of capturing this human spirit in a quintessentially cinematic format.