The Cuckoo
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Movie Reviews of The Cuckoo
Movie Review: MY FAVORITE MOVIE
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is my favorite. Don't miss this DVD.Movie Review: A trilingual film of comic misunderstandings and heartwarming friendship
Summary: 4 Stars
The 2002 Russian production KUKUSHKA ("The Cuckoo") is an entertaining tale of mutual understanding across language barriers on the Finland-Russian front in World War II. As the film begins Veikko (Ville Haapasalo), a recently drafted Finnish student who doesn't seen the point of fighting, is being chained to a rock. Punished for insubordination, he is forced to wear an SS uniform so he won't surrender, and given a gun to shot passing Russian troops. Only a couple of kilometers away Ivan (Viktor Bychkov), a Russian soldier who has just been arrested for the counter-revolutionary activity of writing poetry, is set free when his jailers perish in a bombing. Both of these condemned men are taken in by Anni (Anni-Kristiina Juuso), a Sami woman resident in the area, who holds on to her small farm four years after her husband disappeared.
Each of these three characters cannot speak the language of the others, and Ivan initially hopes to kill Veikko, whom he believes to be a Nazi soldier. The misunderstandings that arise make for fine comedy, but the final reconciliation amongst the three characters is heartwarming. The cinematography really brings out the beauty of the land above the Arctic Circle, and the writers have represented the traditions of the Sami with care. Director Aleksandr Rogozhkin has expertly handled the actors and the action.
The DVD extras are quite entertaining, especially Juuso's bafflement at the suggestion that the Sami people are sex-obsessed.
I watched this film as a student of Finno-Ugrian linguistics resident in Finland, passionate about the Finnish and Sami languages and with training in Russian as well. Audiences with different backgrounds might not care as much for the film, and you might find it a three-star effort instead of four. Nonetheless, I am sure you'll find KUKUSHKA an entertaining film.
Movie Review: What a neat little soft-spoken comedy
Summary: 4 Stars
A neat little Rusiian film that takes place in September of 1944, a few days before Finland dropped out of WWII, about a Finnish soldier (Veikko) dressed as a SS officer who was chained to a rock by Germans and left to die, a Russian soldier (Ivan) who is being taken to be court-martialed by his troops when a overpassing war plane kills everyone but him, and the Lapp woman (Anni) who finds both of them and takes them in.Anni lives a simple life, living out of a hovel on the water and catching fish to survive. Her husband has been dead for years, so having these two men in her home, even if no one speaks a word of each other's language, is still a bonus for her. And therein lies the crux of the humor here. All three of these characters are total chatterboxes, yet no one understands a word anyone else is saying. It makes for some unexpectedly laugh-out-loud situations, and as the film plays out the characters become very well-defined and we see that language is clearly not the only impenetrable barrier between these three.
The first half hour of this film is just set-up, as we get introductions to the three characters and their dilemmas. Not much funny going on. But once they meet, it all becomes very enjoyable, and even a well-filmed but somewhat morbid scene with Anni calling one of them back from the "paths of the dead" doesn't change the pace, so much as it gives Anni a greater depth for us.
Movie Review: The Cuckoo- A welcome departure from the same old fare.
Summary: 4 Stars
This story takes place in northern Finland during Russia's invasion of that country during WW 11. It involves a Finnish soldier and a Russian soldier- both prisoners of their own respective armies. They both wind up at the home of an independent Sami (Lapp) woman. She is primitive but charming and steals the movie. The movie is in three different languages and none of the characters can understand each other. I enjoyed listening to them and enjoyed the scenery. Most of all I enjoyed this simple tale so different from the usual.Movie Review: wonderful film
Summary: 4 Stars
I recommend this dvd whole heartedly. it's a glimpse into an almost unknown part of the war. buy it!