25/10/2022 - Finnish director Jalmari Helander offers an alternate reality in his new project, awarded with the main prize at Sitges, creating a film as enthralling as it is bizarre

In Inglourious Basterds [+see also:
trailer
film profile] Quentin Tarantino turned history on its head to use film as a weapon capable of rewriting the past. Now it was the Nazis who were getting slaughtered. The film was full of action, blood, daring, wit and a sense of humour - above all, a sense of humour. A similar thing happens in Sisu [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the new film from Jalmari Helander, presented in the Midnight Madness section of the last Toronto Film Festival and in the official section of the 55th Sitges Film Festival, where it was one of the big winners with four awards: Best Film, Best Male Performance for Jorma Tommila, Best Music and Best Cinematography.

Set against the backdrop of World War II, Sisu tells the story of a journey across the desert for Aatami Korpi (Tommila is impressive in a role that sustains much of the film), a former soldier who must face Nazi troops alone to defend his life's treasure. Following in the footsteps of his references (Tarantino's films and Sergio Leone's westerns), Helander offers an intrepid and amusing war adventure film, where the violence is not entirely gratuitous either. Through this bloody action-packed story, the Finnish filmmaker also tries to gracefully offer an alternate reality.

The film has a great starting point: the director knows what he wants and clearly goes for it. In both form and substance, Helander wants to make a film with a certain western quality, entertaining without forgetting its epic nature, and he uses his tools very well. From the outset, the staging, the photography, the music (reminiscent of Ennio Morricone) and the protagonist's solo performance all contribute to creating this imaginary. Sisu addresses the banality of evil, the absurdity of violence, the meaning of heroism, conquest and domination, the search for a destiny and also the price of that destiny, but does so from a free place, by playing with genres, with humour and sarcasm, without pretentiousness and without excess working against it. Without losing its substance, the film is full of hilarious moments, totally unhinged sequences and at the same time beautiful images. Like all westerns, Helander's film is also an exploration in its own way. Another of its strengths lies in the script, in this search for restraint and silence. The lack of words in the narrative reinforces the presence of violence and tension throughout the film.

"Sisu is a Finnish word that cannot be translated. It means a white-knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination. Sisu manifests itself when all hope is lost," is stated at the beginning of the film. Beyond the story, Sisu also ends up being a journey. A journey where the director manages to maintain and intensify the determination and strength from the beginning, to create a film of great powerful visuals, as deft in its approach as it is enthralling and bizarre.

Sisu is produced by Subzero Film Entertainment, with international sales managed by US' Sony Pictures Entertainment.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)