The Cuckoo
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Movie Reviews of The Cuckoo
Movie Review: Three People Beyond Words: Communication!
Summary: 5 Stars
THE CUCKOO (Kukushka) is a small miracle of a film. It is not only a unique story but one that draws us into the individual lives of three strangers from different languages and backgrounds who bond in time of war because of their mutual isolation. It is at once charming, gently humorous, and deeply touching.
Taking place during WW II during the little known Russo-Finnish War, the setting is Lapland. We first encounter a Finnish student/soldier Veikko (Ville Haapasalo) being chained by the Russians to a rock in a German SS uniform as punishment for his disillusionment in the war effort, thinking that he will be killed as the enemy. In another area some Russian soldiers are transporting a Russian poet/soldier Ivan (Viktor Bychkov) condemned for his anti-Communist stance: the jeep transporting Ivan is bombed, killing the soldiers except for Ivan. Along comes a little Lapp girl Anni (Anni-Kristiina Juuso), finds the severely injured Ivan, drags him to her hut and nurses him back to health. Meanwhile Veikko ingeniously frees himself from his rock and wanders into the presence of Anni. Veikko speaks Finnish, Ivan speaks Russian and Anni (aka 'Cuckoo') speaks Sami and the three cannot understand each other's language or customs. Ivan sees Veikko as a fascist and wants to destroy him; Veikko never wanted to be in the war anyway so he pacifies Ivan; Anni is more concerned with basic physical needs (her husband has been gone four years, conscripted by the armed forces for a war she doesn't understand and she is hungry for the presence of a man in her bed!). The story explains the manner in which these three people intertwine their lives and beliefs and overcome the barriers of language to form a trio of true universal family. The war ends and the three 'bodies' separate, leaving behind indelible evidence of their transforming experiences.
Writer/director Aleksandr Rogozhkin has created a masterpiece, a film brimming with beauty of visuals, of warmly humorous exchanges of dialog understood only by each speaker, of survival and of the mystery of life beyond. The acting is superb, the cinematography is breathtaking, and the message is deeply moving. In the field of strong anti-war statements, THE CUCKOO is the most sincere. A brilliant achievement! Grady Harp, June 07
Movie Review: Uniquely original "Cuckoo"-never seen anything like it!
Summary: 5 Stars
Director Aleksandr Rogozhkin was awarded the Russian Film of the Year Prize in 2002 for "The Cuckoo" with this following honorarium: "For the memory of its mise-en-scene, and the originality and metaphorical and humanistic force of its scenario about the problems of communication among human beings." High praise indeed for what directors/ artistes long for!
"The Cuckoo" is so uniquely original in my experience as a lover of film, it is quite a struggle to express how I feel about the film. Perhaps that is the point!.. "The Cuckoo" is a simple, yet deeply metaphorical story, taking place towards the conclusion of WW2 in Upper Lapland, Finland. where a condemned Finnish sniper, a Court Marshalled Russian soldier, and a young Lapland widow, who speak three different languages are brought together and learn how to communicate beyond words. Each character has become resourceful in his/her own right as the War has forced them to be. Each character had been something and someone different before the War, and now, as the War is ending, each must decide who they will become. Each babbles on at each other in their own tongues, never apologising or trying to understand the other. Some of this is quite comical, as what each person thinks they are understanding is not what is actually communicated at all! What IS divulged to the viewer, in a very clever way, is the entire backstory of each character WITHOUT the characters themselves EVER understanding that backstory. What we see on screen, then, is how love, compassion and humanity are communicate; so as you can see this is a very different kind of a film!..The audience knows what the characters do not, but the characters learn what the audience can only observe. Very different....very unique....highly complex....yet so very, very simple.
There are scenes in this film that will be indelibly etched on my brain, they are that unusual!
The featurette on the DVD is one of the finest I have ever seen in regards to a director's approach to a film and the actor's sense of how and what their characters should be. You learn a lot about the nature of filmmaking in Russia, and a refreshing "Non-Western" approach to telling a story. This film is a special find and a real treasure! 103 entrancing minutes!
Movie Review: The Cuckoo: A History Lesson of Finnish Involvement in WWII
Summary: 5 Stars
HISTORY LESSON: To explain some things that a lot of people reviewing this film don't understand, Finland was NEVER allies with Nazi Germany. They were invaded by Russia at the beginning of the war, and appealed to Sweden, France and Britain as well as Germany for aid. France and Britain were the only ones to aid them, and very little at that. At the beginning of the war, German officers led the Russians into battle against the Finns. Later, the Finns fought to expel the Germans from Lapland. The Germans even scorched vast areas of Lapland in retaliation. My fiancée's grandfather fought the Russians during the Winter War and spent time in a Russian POW camp, but was also wounded by a German grenade.
(For more information Google "The Winter War" and "The Lapland War.")
As the Finnish population is so small, it was imperative that every able-bodied man fight in the war. Veiko was dressed as an SS officer as punishment for being a deserter. This was common practice. The Russians would shoot him on sight, since by the end of the war they were fighting the fascists. He had no choice but to fight to defend himself after being chained to the rock to die.
It is very interesting hearing Sami, since the Lapps guard their language and refuse to teach it to outsiders, and very few Lapps ever leave their villages (they might be likened to the Amish in the United States.) Much of their culture remains as it did in the film to this day.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud when Veiko went to build the sauna. Finns joke that they can't live without a sauna (sauna is, after all, a Finnish word.) Even during the war, groups of Finnish soldiers would build makeshift saunas.
This movie is absolutely brilliant. The cinematography and story are beautiful. At times you will laugh out loud but quickly want to cry. The ending, though bittersweet, fit the film well.
I recommend it to anyone who loves foreign, art, OR war films. My fiancée and I enjoyed hearing Finnish for the first time in ages, since his entire family moved back to Helsinki. The scenery even made him homesick.
Review by Lauren Thomas, Murfreesboro TN.
Movie Review: Extraordinary, funny, inspirational, beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
What an extraordinary movie! I was confused at the beginning, as were the 3 people with whom I was watching this ultimately marvelous film. We couldn't figure out why the guy was being chained to the rock, who was on which side of the war, what languages they were speaking. But with a little patience and perseverance, it all becomes crystal clear and the movie soars to the stratosphere. Ten stars. The whole movie is set in Lappland, home of the ethnic Sami people. There's a pacifist-Finnish-conscript-sniper-prisoner of the Russians (got all that?) who is chained to the rock and left to die (dressed in an SS uniform) because he just doesn't want to fight any more. Didn't want to fight in the first place. Most of the beginning of the movie is taken up with his persistent and ingenious attempts to free himself from the chains - and I think it was all of those schemes that kept my 18yo son fascinated. By the time the bolt came loose from the stone, my kid was hooked on `the real story,' and, in spite of hating subtitles, he stuck around to the end and loved it.
Okay, stay with me here. Then there's a Russian prisoner of his own countrymen being taken to trial for the anti-Communist views found in his diaries. The jeep with the Russian is bombed; only the prisoner survives, but he's badly concussed.
And there's an utterly charming and luminous young Sami woman living alone (her husband was taken off 4 yrs earlier as a conscript) on a spit of land in a beautiful but pretty barren wilderness who ends up with both men in her hut. None of them speak a common language. The subtitles are hilarious as they babble on incessantly to each other with only occasional glimmers of real communication and understanding. But somehow they forge bonds, the seasons pass, the odd romances blossom and wane - and at the back of the whole story is one of the strongest anti-war messages I've ever seen.
Anni-Christina Juuso, the Sami actress, is nothing short of extraordinary.
The ending is touchingly beautiful, perfectly fitting for this touchingly beautiful film.
See it now.
Movie Review: Very Impressive ...
Summary: 5 Stars
A very simple happenstance movie about a frustrated Russian soldier, a reluctant Finn soldier and a pastoral Sami woman. There are just the three characters in the movie and all of them speak different languages (Russian, Finnish and Sami). The Finn soldier (Veikko played by Ville Haapasalo) is a sniper (Cuckoo in military jargon) who is chained to his position in a remote outpost. His die-hard and innovative attempts to get rid of the shackles whilst complaining about the war, are simply hilarious (the actor's silent facial expressions are most impressive). The Russian soldier/prisoner (Ivan) is stranded in a foreign land and is ever suspicious. The pastoral Sami woman (Anni played by Anni-Kristiina Juuso)steals the show with her top-notch acting. Her bucolic lifestyle and simple outlook towards life is thought provoking. None of the characters in the movie can speak or understand each other's language and their interactions (mostly miscommunications) are simply hilarious.
In one of the scenes, Ivan cooks mushrooms for dinner. Anni thinks mushrooms will give Ivan a bad stomach. She prepares an infusion and (kindly) offers it to Ivan, who gladly drinks appreciating the wonderful taste. The infusion is in fact a potent laxative that takes immediate affect.
All in all a wonderful movie from Russia that reaffirms the beauty of life and the futility of war. It is also a movie about making connections by letting go of fear, suspicion and predisposed biases.
Solid performances by Anni-Kristiina Juuso & Ville Haapasalo.