Insane Movie Sisu Ending Explained . Holy CRAP. What did I just watch? Usually, I watch movies like this, and I can spin the movie in such a way as to make sense of it. Right? I think through explanations like it is a mythological/moral message that the movie is trying to make. Or maybe the film finds itself well within the absurdist camp of movie making which has its own reasons and its own purposes. But this movie? Yup, no idea what is happening or why? I have no theories to explain it – and there is one major clue that actually tells me that this is an anti-moral film. Or better put – an anarchic film – intentionally. But we’ll get to that in the end, alright?
So, the movie, Sisu, the action-packed Finnish war film, takes place in 1944 Finland and centers around an insane fellow named Aatami Korpi. This guy is a spirit almost, he moves with the prowess of a human terminator. After discovering gold… Korpi embarks on a relentless mission to eliminate Nazis one by one as he journeys back home. But let’s slow down a second… and walk through this film cut by cut and see if we can make heads or tails out of it.
FIRST – EVERYONE STOP YELLING AT ME
Look, I actually enjoyed the movie just fine. I love action movies. John Wick 4 was a blast (didn’t write it up because? “Soo… he killed everyone. The end.”) I ADORE Quentin Tarantino. Pulp Fiction? Is one of the greatest movies ever. So please, as you read the below, understand this… the reason I am not over the moon about this movie isn’t because of the gratuitousness of the violence (Green Room anyone? Blue Ruin?) but because of the illogic of it all. No, the blatant immorality of it. He is a fighting machine and stopped fighting in the war? I mean. Does that not strike anyone else as odd? Also is only in it for the gold? Yeah, not a fan of a WWII movie where the protagonist is solely in it for the gold. That just doesn’t work for me. Now if you want to yell at me about these facts and the specified details? Go ahead… but stop yelling at me about my not liking violence.
Sisu Movie Walkthrough
Aatami is walking out in the wilds of Finland. Alone as World War II rages overhead and all around. Why is this guy just peaceing out of the largest war the world will ever know? Well, it turns out, that after killing over 300 Nazis, Aatami has decided he is going to retire to Finland, and pan for gold. Out here, he is running solo, save for the pleasurable company of his dog and his horse. Eventually, we watch as he discovers a single small nugget of gold, which leads to a mother-load deposit. This is a sign, this is his destiny. He’s found his quiet space for retiring from the hellscape that is the world. This gold is going to fund his mental peace after a chaotic deployment in the war. The only glitch? He’s gotta get his newfound wealth back to civilization.
On his way back home, the first sortie of Nazi soldiers he bravely walks straight through say nothing, and allow him through. But the further he goes, the more he sees the impacts the Nazi occupation as he meets civilian after civilian hanging from power poles all over. Eventually, he comes upon another group of Nazi soldiers that are really curious about him, and what he is hauling/hiding. When they go through his things, they discover the gold. Intent on taking the gold and killing Aatami, they don’t realize the trouble that they are now in. Because Aatami? He’s no ordinary civilian that will be strung up and hanged. Aatami starts the violence with a dagger through an officer’s temple… and it only escalates from there. Killing them all – he continues on, and the rest of the group, hearing the noise, come sets off on a merry chase.
When Aatami unwittingly rides his horse into a minefield and ends up blowing it to smithereens, Aatami scurries around the ground collecting his scattered gold as quickly as he can. And it is this moment, this detail, that I have such an enormous problem with. But we will get to this later, I promise.
Aatami uses the smoke of the mines that have been going off to dodge for cover. Then, in one of the greatest, most purely hilarious moments in all of action-movie-dom, Aatami hurls a mine, out of the smoke, and he hits a Nazi soldier square in the face with it… because sure, why not? THAT is what we are dealing with here. An absurdist action movie that just is out for the craziest insanity possible. And Sisu delivers. There are scenes of Nazis hunting Aatami in a lake… but he stays underwater by slitting the Nazi’s throats, and breathing the air coming out of their lungs. Right. Yup. This is Die Hard on Steroids – the suspension of disbelief version.
It goes without saying, that Aatami eventually kills every last member of the crew that has been hunting even though they were warned by German high command NOT to continue their pursuit. This guy is a killing machine… just let him go! But do they listen? No, no they do not. There is one scene in particular that had my eyebrow broken in a cocked and fully upright position as I watched. Aatami is hanged, right? But he doesn’t die. Then he rocks himself to a spot where he can skewer his leg for support. Huh? I mean, huh? The screenplay writer and the director didn’t even try to give us an excuse for his not dying. Nothing. I can’t explain it.
The Ending of Sisu Explained (ya, right)
Regardless, Aatami pulls Wolf out of the tank and beats him silly, then leaves him to the women who had previously been their prisoners (and obviously abused) and now was taking him captive. After a crazy segment involving a plane, a pick axe, and a dead pilot… Aatami hooks Schütze to a bomb and ejects him out the bomb doors. I know. Insane. Just one more in a long list of insane insanities that comes with the movie Sisu. Better yet? The plane crashes into a swamp and Aatami basically snorkels up out of a bog, pick axe and all afterwards. Surreal. ANYWAY, he reunites with his dog, and heads into Helsinki with the gold in tow.
Now, this is the interesting bit. Aatami heads into the local bank, all the other customers run from this OBVIOUSLY insane individual, as he pours out all the gold on the counter. And here, the audience all collectively realizes, that these are the first spoken words that come from our hero. Not a “HERE BOY!,” not a single, “DIE NAZI BASTAGE!”… nothing. Anyway, what does he say? I mean, it must be important. He tells the bank teller that he would like to trade in the gold for large bank notes. Because… why? BECAUSE IT WILL WEIGH LESS.
END OF THE MOVIE.
Unbelievable.
And as for the end of the movie explained? Aatami obviously wanted a denomination of money that was lighter. The end. I’ve got absolutely nothing else here for you. But I will say this. The fact that this wasn’t a moral good for him, the killing the Nazis as a response to their being in his country… it was just an obstacle in his way. That’s it. He wanted his cash, they were in his way… boom. End of story. And in my opinion – though this is obviously a hot take – is just as morally repugnant as it gets. Sure, the Germans in 1938 were worse, but only slightly. So, yeah. I think I should keep my opinion to myself here. Definitely wasn’t a fan of this one.
The end.
Edited by: CY