The Cuckoo

      
Studio: CTB Film Company
Release Date: 09/12/2002
Starring: Anni-Kristiina Juuso, Ville Haapasalo, Viktor Bychkov
Run time: 103 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: Aleksandr Payne
 
In September 1944, as World War II rages, Anni (Anni-Kristiina Juuso), a kind-hearted and lonely Lapp woman, goes to bury the war dead and finds Ivan (Viktor Bychkov), a wounded Russian soldier condemned to execution for dissent. At the same time she gives shelter to Veikko (Ville Haapasalo), a Finnish soldier who, because of his pacifist views, has been chained to a rock to meet his death in the wilderness.

None in this ménage à trois speaks the others’ languages, which results in comic and sometimes worrisome situations. Nevertheless, Anni does her best to keep the soldiers of warring armies from getting into a fight. The war has no meaning to her, and her chief concern is that no one be harmed.

Fittingly, Anni, who has not seen a man in four years after her husband was conscripted into the army, is sincere about having “an aching below the tummy” and gets her message across to the men, as they settle in at her primitive reindeer farm.

The laconic beauty of Lapland scenery, down-to-earth humanity and humor, deep anti-war sentiment, and otherworldly Lapp mysticism make this movie a feast for the eyes and soul. The ending is very touching, albeit bittersweet.

Although the movie is rated PG-13 and has no graphic sex, it raises adult topics which some parents might not find appropriate for school-age children.

My rating: Five lilies out of five.

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