How much do you hate the Russians? Well, however much you might loath all things Russky, the Finns hated them more. How much more? They sided with Nazi Germany in WWII. That is a level of hatred most Americans cannot comprehend, even those who follow RW Media.
So what’s with Sisu? A Finn taking on the Nazis by himself? Well, it’s the end of WWII and loyalties have shifted. The remaining Germans occupying Finland have taken to a scorched earth policy. They’ve destroyed towns and taken the womenfolk hostage. That will make you change loyalties very quickly.
Somewhere in the middle of desolate Lapland (not much has changed in thousands of years), there lives a war veteran prospector, Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila). At the start of the film, he strikes it rich. Well … that needs to be qualified. As a native Californian, I can tell you from studying my own state history, there’s a big difference between “discovering gold” and “striking it rich.” It’s not like there’s an assayer and a federally insured bank in the middle of nowhere. Getting to exchange the gold for something of use is going to be a challenge. And it gets more challenging when Korpi runs into bored Nazis.
Is it possible that had our hero no gold, the Nazis would just “live and let live?” Possible, but, let’s face it, they’re Nazis. — i.e. “live and let live” ain’t exactly their brand, knowwhatI’msayin’? Naturally, it comes to violence, and 
if you don’t shoot Korpi when you have a free and open chance, you’re aren’t going to get a second chance, which is something these occupying Nazis don’t seem to learn very well.
Sisu has some wonderful cinematography, which is strange given the bleak landscape and war atmosphere. One specific and memorable visual has a live clay mine emerging from the smoke and hurtling towards an enemy soldier. Oh, I should point out right now that if you can’t stomach war violence, this isn’t the film for you. Korpi isn’t so much an opposing solider as a Finnish Mad Max of sorts. And, despite the historic setting, Sisu feels like a Finnish Road Warrior.
Inspecting the crowd around me, I find this film doesn’t necessarily appeal to Finns so much as burly, brawny, beefy manly man men of the male influence. I haven’t seen a crowd quite like this since 300. And these testosterone carriers were rewarded for their indulgence; Sisu is exactly the film they wanted to see about an indestructible manly man man taking apart Nazis. The film is a little one-note, and we’ve all seen versions of this one-man army in various film forms, but Sisu was definitely a quality take. To my manly frogblog followers – watch Sisu with pride, chug a beer, hock a loogie, then grunt, snort, and go pee on something outdoors. You will not regret the experience.
There once was a rogue warrior Finn
Whom the Nazis had tried to do in
But he couldn’t be thrown
This Laplander Stallone
And left all but fascists with a grin
Rated R, 91 Minutes
Director: Jalmari Helander
Writer: Jalmari Helander
Genre: Screwing with Nazis
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Finns
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Nazis
