The Cuckoo 2003

In September 1944, at the tail end of the Continuation War against the Soviet Union, Veikko Ville Haapasalo, a Finnish soldier, is branded a deserter by his own country and left chained to a rock in a remote Lapland forest. With only a few supplies, a rifle, and his chains, he becomes a forlorn figure meant to test his will to fight, forced to wear the uniform of the German Waffen-SS to deter Soviet troops who show little mercy to SS men. After days of failed escape attempts, Veikko manages to free himself, though the chains remain, and he trudges toward safety.

Not far away, Ivan Viktor Bychkov, a Red Army captain accused of anti-Soviet correspondence, is arrested by the NKVD. On the way to a court martial, Soviet planes accidentally bomb the vehicle carrying him, killing the driver and Ivan’s guard. Veikko watches the bombing through his rifle scope, still bound, a silent observer to a moment that could upend both their fates.

On a nearby Sámi reindeer farm, Anni Anni-Kristiina Juuso tends to a lonely, hungry life. Her husband and their herd were taken by the Germans years earlier, leaving her to fend for herself. While foraging for food, she discovers the aftermath of the air strike and the bodies of Ivan and his captors. She drags Ivan into her wooden hut and nurses him back to health. Veikko, meanwhile, stumbles onto Anni’s farm while searching for tools to free his shackles.

The three strangers do not share a common language, setting the stage for comic and often poignant misunderstandings that gradually give way to something deeper. Ivan, unaware of Veikko’s true status, suspects the Finnish soldier is a German deserter in disguise, especially since Veikko wears a German uniform. When Veikko and Ivan exchange glances and gestures, the question of names becomes muddled; Ivan shrugs off his own, replying only “Poshol ty!” — a line that the others read as if his name were Psholty. Veikko, simply aiming to escape and return home, chooses to stay at Anni’s farm to avoid capture, while Anni’s earthy warmth and longing for companionship draw her to the vibrant, if wary, Veikko.

What follows is a delicate dance of humanity. Anni’s seduction is born not from estrangement but from a shared need for connection, and she welcomes the two men into a makeshift domestic life that centers on hunting, gathering, and survival in the looming Lapp winter. Veikko and Ivan contribute in their own ways—Veikko with the building of a sauna, Ivan with foraging to keep them fed—and they learn to communicate through gestures and small acts of trust. Anni, starved for touch, finds herself drawn to Veikko, while Ivan guards her with a protective, conflicted tenderness that irks with quiet jealousy.

A breakthrough comes when a Soviet biplane crashes near Anni’s hut, scattering leaflets that announce an armistice between Finland and the USSR. Veikko believes he can finally go home, but Ivan—still convinced Veikko is an enemy—pulls a pistol from the wreckage and shoots Veikko as he tries to seize the gun. Only after Ivan reads the plane’s last line does he grasp that the war is truly over, and a wave of remorse washes over him as he carries Veikko back to the farm.

Anni’s ancient Sami rituals begin to revive Veikko, and with his recovery, the two men, no longer defined by distrust or rivalry over Anni, begin to form a fragile friendship. As winter tightens its grip, they part in opposite directions, returning to their homelands while Anni remains, forever changed by the bond she shared with both men. In the final scene, she narrates the tale to her children, whom she names after their fathers: Veikko and Psholty, keeping alive the memory of the two men who touched her life.