Sisu
All actors and roles (10)
All team (99)
Short description
Set in Finnish Lapland in 1944, Sisu follows Aatami, a former soldier who has turned his back on the war and now searches the wilderness for gold. When he finally strikes a rich vein, his journey to bring the treasure into the city puts him in the path of retreating German troops, whose commander, an SS officer named Bruno, wants the gold for himself. What the soldiers do not count on is Aatami's experience as a fighter, and a pursuit across the mined and ruined landscape turns into a violent contest between the lone prospector and the men hunting him.
The film is directed and written by Jalmari Helander, whose earlier features include Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale and Big Game. It is his fifth film, and Jorma Tommila, who had appeared in Rare Exports, leads the cast as Aatami, with Aksel Hennie as Bruno, Jack Doolan as Wolf, Mimosa Willamo as Aino and Onni Tommila as Schütze. It was produced by Petri Jokiranta for a budget of about 7 million dollars, and its worldwide box office of roughly 14 million dollars means it earned back about twice its cost.
Critics rated the film 7.6/10 from 184 reviews, while on IMDb it holds 6.9/10 from 118,000 votes and on TMDB 7.4/10 from 2,981 votes. Two sequels followed, Sisu: Road to Revenge in 2025 and John Rambo in 2027.
What's left behind the scenes
- To a certain extent, the film is based on the story of Simo Häyhä, a real sniper from World War II who fought against the Red Army, and during the Winter War, is believed to have killed over 500 enemy soldiers. He had the call sign "White Death," and Häyhä is considered the most skilled sniper of all time.
- The actors performed the stunts, for the most part, themselves.
- The film was shot in remote areas of Lapland, where the temperature dropped to minus 28 degrees Celsius, and the wind speed reached 18 meters per second.
- Axel Henny, who played Bruno, was injured during the filming of a fight scene on a plane set. The wound on his forehead required three stitches, and filming continued.
- None of the actors playing Nazis were German. The main Nazi, Bruno, was played by Axel Hennie, of Norwegian origin. His deputy was played by British actor Jack Doolan, and the remaining soldiers were played by Finns.
- When Jack Doolan was offered the role in this film by Wolf, he read the script, decided it was some kind of prank, and initially called his agent.
- The film is set against the backdrop of the Lapland War of 1944 between Finland and Germany, however, apart from the location and time, there is no resemblance to real events.
- In May 2023, Jalmari Helander stated in an interview that he had some ideas about how to continue the story of Aatami. The actor who played him, Jorma Tommila, expressed interest in appearing in a sequel. In December of the same year, Helander confirmed his intention to film a sequel, and initially, 50,000 euros were allocated to the project.
- After working on the comedy action film "Big Game" (2014), director and screenwriter Jalmari Helander planned to shoot a science fiction comedy "Jerry and Miss Universe," but the project was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and in the fall of 2021, Helander wrote the screenplay for "Immortals".
- Director and screenwriter Jalmari Helander is not a fan of 3-hour sagas, so the length of his film does not exceed 90 minutes.
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