Tag: WWII

Sisu

2022   Lionsgate

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  31min

Action ~ War ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Jalmari Helander

Starring:  Jorma Tommila, alongside Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Mimosa Willamo and Onni Tommila.

Vengeance is Golden

FROM THE OFFICIAL SISU MOVIE WEBSITE:

During the last desperate days of WWII, a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched earth retreat in northern Finland. When the Nazis steal his gold, they quickly discover that they have just tangled with no ordinary miner.

While there is no direct translation for the Finnish word SISU, this legendary ex-commando will embody what SISU means: A white knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination in the face of overwhelming odds. And no matter what the Nazis throw at him, the one man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back – even if it means killing every last Nazi in his path.

SISU THE MOVIE:

Starts with the description:

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.

1944

Then we see the lone prospector and his dog panning for gold in a stream. Then:

CHAPTER 1: THE GOLD

comes on the screen and the prospector finds a sliver of gold in the creek. He starts to dig around the stream looking for the vein of gold and indeed finds the vein of gold. He digs it up and fills his saddle bags with the gold. Then he loads up on his horse and heads out on the long road to town followed by his dog. On the way he encounters The Nazis……

CHAPTER 2: THE NAZIS

And a Minefield that the Nazis planted as they were leaving Finland……..

CHAPTER 3: MINEFIELD

And we find out who the prospector really is and why he is ………..

CHAPTER 4: THE LEGEND

Scorched Earth is the policy the Nazis had on their retreat out of Finland, it is also now the prospectors policy………..

CHAPTER 5: SCORCHED EARTH

And along with some new friends, they want to………

CHAPTER 6: KILL ‘EM ALL

THE REVIEW:

The Scenery, filmography and special effects:

The scenery of untouched Finland unravaged by Nazi hands….Beautiful. As the Nazis start to enter the frame and the land they have touched, the filmography echoes that. Colors fade into the grey of war and the evilness of the Nazi war machine. The special effects were awesome. Explosions, horrific graphic violence, lots of blood and body parts, and fog…lots of fog.

The Legend:

The prospector character was loosely based on a WWII Finnish sniper who reportedly killed over 500 Nazis. He is played by Finnish actor Jorma Tomilla, a mild mannered actor in real life. He transformed himself into a complete bad-ass in this movie. I say well done to that transformation and great job acting as The Legend. He never says a word until the very last scene in the movie and conveys so much without uttering a single word throughout the rest of the movie. Interestingly enough Jorma’s son is also an actor and played one of the Nazis in the movie.

The Dog:

The prospector’s dog is a Bedlington Terrier which looks slightly like a wild poodle. The director had his mind set on a more vicious dog breed for the movie but when he saw Jorma Tomilla’s dog he decided to use him instead. You can see the bond the two have in real life coming through in the scenes in the movie. Personally I think the Dog was the second best actor in the film, right after Jorma.

My final words(Promise):

It reminded me of INGLORIUS BASTARDS, that movie was also laid out in Chapters. And obviously because of WWII and The Nazis but also because of the over the top violence. It was almost as if parts of it were a horror/slasher movie. Make no mistake, there is lots of violence and it is horrific, but in a horror movie type of way. Even though this is a war movie I think it borders on some good old fashioned horror, kind of like Strange Darling or Ready Or Not. It reminds me of Strange Darling in how the movie is laid out in chapters also.

I loved this movie, I loved everything about it. The story, the legend, the dog, the women. I am a fan and am ready for SISU 2. Bring it on……..

Mimosa Willamo as Aino in SISU. Copyright Freezing Point Oy.
Photo Credit: Antii Rastivo
Courtesy of Lionsgate
Jorma Tommila as Aatami Korpi in SISU. Credit: Copyright Freezing Point Oy, photographer Antti Rastivo
SISU Movie Poster
Courtesy of Lionsgate

Inside Man

2006   Universal Pictures

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hr  8min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Spike Lee

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

“My name is Dalton Russell. Recently I planned and set in motion events to execute the perfect bank robbery……..”

Clive Owen stars as Dalton Russell, who in August 2005, leads a small group of criminals who hijack The Manhattan Trust Bank and hold everyone inside hostage. Denzel Washington stars as Detective Keith Frazier, who along with his partner Detective Bill Mitchell (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are assigned to the active situation. Willem Dafoe stars as Captain John Darius with the NYPD Emergency services Unit who has set up the perimeter and command center at the Bank. They set up phone communication within the bank solely through the commander center and wait to hear from the Bank robbers.

Christopher Plummer stars as The Founder and Chairman of The Board of Manhattan Trust Bank Arthur Case. This branch is the original Manhattan Trust Bank and also the biggest. Arthur is very nervous about the robbery and the men inside the bank because he has an unidentified security deposit box inside. He does not want them to get their hands on what is inside the box for fear it could ruin him. He makes a call to the most notorius “Fixer” in the city, Madeleine White (Jodie Foster), and she agrees to meet with him. Madeleine calls in a favor from the Mayor and gets him to let her into the active crime scene so she can negotiate with the bank robbers.

And the game of cat and mouse is on as the police and detectives try to negotiate with the bank robbers and figure out their motives and demands, and Madeleine and Arthur try to keep his secret hidden, and the robbers play hide and seek with the hostages as they do something different than bank robbers are expected to do in this situation. It is a thrilling crime drama with a mystery not solved until the very end. It is a movie centered around a bank robbery but it is much more than that. There are secrets and mysteries that are exposed that throw a different twist on the old bank robbery caper.

I have seen this countless times, whenever I see it listed on a platform I always watch it. It is one of my favorites. I sought it out this time because I found out that there was a sequel to this movie, INSIDE MAN: MOST WANTED. I have seen the sequel numerous times too, but didn’t realize they were connected. I came across an article  about it while doing research for another movie. It explained how the two movies are connected in the storyline, how the story carries over into the sequel. I had no idea, but thinking about it it made sense. So I had to go back and watch them with my new knowledge of the storyline.

It is a great movie. With Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor all at their best. It is funny at times as well. All the interrogation scenes were completely ad-libbed by the actors. Great job I’d say. Great story, great cast, great acting and a great movie. I am watching the sequel INSIDE MAN: MOST WANTED tonight.

If you haven’t seen it you’re missing out on a good one.

Highly Recommended!

Number 24

2024  Motion Blur/Netflix

Rated:  Not Rated

Length:  1 hr  52min

Biography ~ Drama ~ True Story ~ War

Directed by:  John Andreas Andersen

Starring:  Sjur Vatne Brean, Erik Hivju and Philip Helgar

“I have five drawers in my head. I closed the bottom drawer May 8th, 1945 and I haven’t opened it since.”

Sjur Vatne Brean (as the younger Gunnar) and Erik Hivju (as the older Gunnar) star as Gunnar Sønsteby in this Norwegian Film by Scandinavian Motion Picture Company Motion Blur. They also released the Movies Troll and Troll 2. It was released in October 2024 in Scandinavia, and released by Netflix worldwide January 1, 2025. It became the most popular film of 2024 in Norway at the time of it’s release, and it was viewed over 9 million times in it’s first week on Netflix.  Number 24 is the True Story of Gunnar Sønsteby who was a young man in Oslo, Norway in 1940 when the Germans invaded. The movie is based on the autobiographical Novel Report From #24: The Thrilling Tale of Norway’s Most Decorated World War II Hero  by Gunnar Sønsteby ~ May 1, 2017.

The movie starts with the elder Gunnar getting ready to speak to a group of University students. He spent the rest of his life after the war giving lectures about his experience in WWII to pass on the lessons learned to future generations. “As long as I live, I will tell the important facts. The Historians can analyze, but I was there.” As he starts to recount his story, the movie flashes back to Gunnar in 1940 as the Germans invade Oslo. He was a 21 year old young man working as an accountant when Germany launched it’s Blitzkrieg on Norway. The movie flashes back and forth between the elder Gunnar giving a lecture, and the younger Gunnar in Oslo during WWII as he narrates the story.

When the Germans invaded Oslo, Gunnar made a very deliberate decision to fight no matter what. He joined the initial Norwegian Resistance fighters which was a very unorganized rag-tag group of young Norwegian Citizens determined to fight the Nazi’s. Gunnar quickly saw that they needed to be better organized, and rose to the forefront of the resistance as an organizer and leader. He was eventually recruited by the secret British Special Operations where he became known as “Agent 24”. An undercover agent largely responsible for a lot of the covert operations in Norway. He later became a member of the infamous “Oslo Gang”, a sabotage group responsible for halting German operations in Norway.

Gunnar Sønsteby is Norway’s most Highly Decorated Citizen, having been awarded several medals including the War Cross, Norway’s most prestigious medal for his war efforts. It is a somber but fascinating story and a great movie. The sadism and inhumane cruelty of The Nazi regime is hinted at in the movie. Most notably in one scene early on where the Nazi’s torture one of the resistance fighters with hot motor oil. Barbaric. I was completely transfixed by the story and the movie. Unbelievable what Gunnar went through and the risks he took to stop the Germans.

I only have one complaint, and it is totally a personal one. It has nothing to do with Gunnar nor the movie. I am not a big fan of foreign movies that are overdubbed or sub-titled, in fact I avoid them. I really get immersed in a movie, I like to transport myself into it. Really get lost in it, feel like you are right there with the characters. There is nothing like a sub-title to completely blow the illusion for me. Or really bad overdubbed voices that don’t match the physical movement of the actor’s mouth, that really gets me. I can’t watch, if it’s bad right off the bat, I’ll quit watching.

That being said, Netflix did a good job with this one. At first it bugged me because I’m such a snob about overdubbing, but they did a good job and the story quickly overcame any discrepancy in the dubbing. It is a fascinating look at a horrendous time in Norway and a young man who said no and took a stance. The courage, determination and bravery of Gunnar Sønsteby helped change the course of the war in Norway and saved his country.

Bravo to Gunnar Sønsteby and Number 24, a great man and a great movie!

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs up!

The Six Triple Eight

2024   Netflix

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  2 hr  9min

Drama ~ True Story ~ War

Directed by:  Tyler Perry

Starring:  Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Moriah Brown, Gregg Sulkin, Susan Sarandon, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston and Oprah Winfrey.

“They did not send us because they thought we could do it, we are here because they are sure we can not. But We…..Will Not…..Fail!”

On May 15, 1942, after being drug into WWII by Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the creation of The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. It allowed women to serve in non-combat roles freeing up the men needed by the war effort on the front lines. The 6888th Battalion (Nicknamed The Six Triple Eight) was an all Black Female WAAC Battalion consisting of 31 Officers and 824 enlisted personnel. They watched as the White WAAC Battalions were given orders and missions overseas in Europe to support the war effort but, given the racial bias and discrimination of the day, they were left to continue training in Georgia.

The True Story of The Six Triple Eight is told through the eyes of Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian). As a young Black woman attending High School in Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, she falls in love with a young Jewish boy named Abram David (Gregg Sulkin). Abram makes Lena promise to wait for him to return as he is drafted to go to Europe and fight in the war. Months pass and Lena gets a letter informing her that Abram had died in service. She vows to join the war effort the only way she can, by joining The WAAC, and fight Hitler. She joins and is sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia where the highest ranking Black Female Officer during WWII is in charge of the new recruits.

Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington) was Commanding Officer of The Six Triple Eight and oversaw the mission that took the Battalion to war in Europe. Mail delivery in and out of the war in Europe had come to a standstill. Families at home in the US had no word from their loved ones serving on the battlefield, and soldiers morale on the frontlines were growing low, being fully cut off from their lives at home. Major Adams and her Battalion were given orders to fly to Birmingham, England and sort the mess out, and get the mail flowing again. Nobody thought they could accomplish the task and they were given six months to complete the assignment. They were given an abandoned school building with no heat, and airplane hangars full of duffel bags stuffed with mail.

Major Adams and her Battalion rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Working three eight hour shifts twenty four hours a day, they sorted through an estimated 17 million pieces of mail. A great number of the letters and packages were damaged or had very little info as to who it actually went to, and coupled with the fact that the soldiers they were addressed to were constantly moving on the battlefield, it was a seemingly impossible task. The women of The Six Triple Eight gave it everything they had, playing detective, and pieced together where all the mail was supposed to go and got it there. And they accomplished their mission in 90 days, half the time they were allotted, and in spite of the working conditions, and the racial and sexist discriminations of the time.

I never did understand the racial bias and hatred towards another human beings skin color or ethnicity. I was raised in a Military household and I grew up around the world, exposed to many different cultures and ethnicities in and outside the confines of  Military life. When I lived in the south for the first time it was indeed a cultural shock, at the time I was a long haired Hippie Child that loved playing guitar and Blues music. I might as well have been black, racism was rampant, and if you loved “Nigger Music” or played it you got the wrath as well. I remember playing in a country band back in the early 1980’s and somebody came up to me and said, “I’ll bet you love to play that Nigger Blues, don’t you….”  Seriously?

Job well done to the women of The Six Triple Eight and Major Charity Adams, and to Tyler Perry for bringing this story to the big screen. He was so inspired when Producer Nicole Avant contacted him about the story, he sought out any remaining members of The 6888th. The next day he flew out to Las Vegas where he spent time with Lena Derriecott King. There is a video Tyler Perry posted on his Instagram account with Lena.  I think Mr. Perry and the cast did a tremendous job bringing their story to the big screen. Kerry Washington had my attention from the time she walked in the barracks for the first time. Absolutely riveting performance. Ebony Obsidian as Lena as well. All the women get my utmost respect, I salute The Six Triple Eight and The Cast of the movie. Bravo. Standing Ovation………………

There is a tremendous lesson to be learned from these brave women…….no matter what obstacle, how high, how formidable….you never, ever give up…and you hold your head high as you do what they say can’t be done.

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs Up!

Greyhound

2020   Sony Pictures

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  1 hr  31min

Action ~ Drama ~ History ~ War

Directed by:  Aaron Schneider

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan, and Elisabeth Shue.

“The only thing more dangerous than the front lines was the fight to get there.”

Tom Hanks stars as US Navy Captain Ernest Krause commanding his first ship, The USS Keeling Destroyer codenamed “Greyhound”. The year is 1942 and Greyhound is assigned as an escort to a convoy of 37 merchant and troop ships headed for Liverpool, England. They have aircraft escorts as well, but they can only fly so far before they reach the point they have to fly back before they run out of fuel. Same thing on the other side of the Atlantic, the British escort fighter planes can only fly out to meet them so many miles. The middle of the Atlantic between these two Airplane boundaries where there is no Air protection from the Nazi U-Boat Submarines was called “The Black Pit”.

The Nazi U-Boat name was short for the German word “Unterseeboot”, meaning Under Sea Boat, shortened to U-Boat. It is the German term for Submarine. It was in The Black Pit where the German U-boats took advantage of the Convoys lack of air cover to hunt ships in the convoys. Without air support they were easy targets. They would typically travel in packs referred to as Wolfpacks to better hunt and sink Allied convoy ships. “Greyhound” details the 40 hour journey across the Black Pit by Captain Krause and his crew aboard the USS Keeling. As one of the four escort ships they encounter numerous U-boats and fight to destroy them and keep the convoy safe.

It is a stress filled, adrenaline fueled 40 hours fighting off ruthless U-boat attacks from every direction. There is little time for eating and no time for sleeping during the highly dangerous passage. Tom Hanks does an excellent job of portraying the Captain on his first mission across the Black Pit, displaying all the various emotions a first time Captain put into that precarious situation must have felt. The loss of men and ships weighing heavily on the man assigned to keep losses from happening. Stephen Graham also does a good job of portraying Lieutenant Commander Charlie Cole. You might remember him as “Baby Face Nelson” in Public Enemies(2009) or as “Tony Pro” Provenzano in “The Irishman”(2019), he has been in a lot of movies.

Elisabeth Shue plays Captain Krause’s girlfriend but you only see her in the very beginning of the movie before he departs out to sea. I thought it was a really great depiction of what it must have been like to cross the Atlantic during WWII. It is a nail-biter that will keep you on the edge of your seat as U-boats seem to come out of every direction to hunt and kill. It is based on the novel   The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester. Although not a true story, it is a pretty accurate account of the crossing by hundreds of Convoys during WWII. During the course of the war there were 3,500 ships carrying millions of tons of cargo sunk. 72,200 souls were lost forever on those ships.

Definitely worth a watch, but it is a war movie portraying a sea battle, it may not be for everyone. But it is a damn good movie in my opinion.

Two Thumbs Up!