Sisu

I did quite enjoy this, but you really do have to be prepared to leave your common sense at the door. It's all about a man "Aatami" (Jorma Tommila) who having had a brutal WWII already, has taken refuge in the remote Finnish wilderness where he is panning for - and finds - gold. Packing up, he sets off for civilisation but en route, encounters a dishevelled Nazi tank patrol under the command of "Bruno" (Aksel Hennie). Initially, they have little interest in the pilgrim, but some gunfire and explosions shortly after he passes them piques their interest and soon the most perilous of manhunts is engaged. The "Sisu" myth is based around a person who is not immortal, but who simply refuses to die - and "Aatami" certainly fits the bill. He flirts with knives, bullets, landmines and even the noose but death clearly doesn't want him just yet! Can he get his gold to the bank? It is gory, this film, but I found in quite a light-hearted way. Limbs blown hither and tither but somehow not in a menacing, or scary, fashion. Indeed, at times the action is actually mildly entertaining - especially when the women prisoners are given the opportunity for some good old-fashioned revenge. It's told with an hybrid Guy Ritchie or Sergio Leone style, episodically, and for the first hour works quite well. The tail end, though, falls away as the film - always of questionable plausibility - becomes just a little bit too "A-Team". There isn't much dialogue to comment on - no bad thing; and the action comes thick and fast in a production that is wonderfully illustrative of the bleakness of this environment (and of some with an human soul).