Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: SISU [Toronto International Film Festival 2022]
"Sisu" [Midnight Madness], almost from the beginning, is a freight train of a movie. Part "Old Man", part "Commando", it stars grizzled full gray bearded Jorma Tomilla as a man just searching for gold in Finland who comes in contact with Nazis in the early 1940s. The German soldiers are armed to the teeth and he initially just has his horse but intensity just keeps building. The set pieces are stark whether in a lake or in an abandoned petrol station. There is a briskness to to the film but also a beauty. There is a similarity in a way to "Shadow In The Cloud" in its single-mindedness but also with much more brutality. There are distinct odes to "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" both in style, certain builds of sequences (and equipment) and just determination by Tomilla. He never gives up. Director Jamari Helander knows just the right amount of ebb and flow to provide. The abilities of this commando of sorts strain credibility at times but never become superhuman. This man, as spoken of, is a Finnish legend of sorts, oddly enough it brings to mind how the young girl in "Waterworld" describes The Mariner as he is coming to kill Dennis Hopper's villain.
When the Russians overtook his land and killed his family, he went scorched earth on them (that is actually one of the title cards). The Nazis are just other invaders in his land. But it is not just tit for tat. The Old Man doesn't hold back but neither do the Nazis. One explosion at the beginning sets the stage because one thinks "they just did that?" Tomilla plays the character gruff and powerful but also with a sense of a compassion. It like Stephen Lang playing the old man in a way but with less tongue-in-cheek. He will protect his own. He is not crazy but he will not stop until he thinks the job is overtly done. And that is what the story keeps racing towards. The Nazis aren't played as pushovers but also are definitely on the wrong side of everything. The movie plays odes in many ways as it goes onward to everything from "Dr. Strangelove" to "Mad Max Fury Road". Those moments are definite crowd pleasers. "Sisu" was a beautiful surprise full of range, energy and fun...and the right kind of midnight movie, just bonkers enough (say like "Hardcore Henry") to be edgy but mainstream enough to grab the following (despite some tricky ADR). A
By Tim Wassberg
