The Cuckoo (Kukushka) (Кукушка)

Anni-Kristiina Juuso

Ville Haapasalo

Viktor Bychkov

In a film by Alexander Rogozhkin

THE CUCKOO

make-up artist Olga Shamkovich

costume designer Marina Nikolayeva

sound Anatoly Gudkovsky Sergei Sokolov

composer Dmitri Pavlov

editor Yulia Rumyantseva

production designer Vladimir Svetozarov

director of photography Andrei Zhegalov

production manager Olga Naidyonova

producer Sergei Selyanov

written and directed by Alexander Rogozhkin

Get changed.

It's ready.

Come on, Private.

Hold it.

- Who chose this place? - Me. Don't you like it?

It's lovely. Thanks.

- What's he saying? - It's a good spot for a sniper.

- Leave him his glasses? - Yes.

Sit here until we've gone.

- Take the gun, and he'll shoot. - I don't shoot in the back.

They all say that, but last week Big Yussi got a bullet here.

Good luck, Private. Goodbye.

Down by the hill, you see?

I see. Then where?

Past the burned bridge, there's a ford...

You're an honest officer. I believe you're innocent.

Stop babbling!

Comrade Lieutenant, for your journey!

Let's go!

Good luck, Comrade Lieutenant!

Careful!

Comrade Lieutenant, you can see the state of the road!

Comrades, give us a push!

Mister!

I recognize you! You worked at the shooting range.

What?

By the market.

What market?

In Bezhetsk.

No.

Like him, but you used to have a moustache.

- Stop talking to the prisoner! - Get lost!

Thanks, lads.

Much further?

Much further, Captain?

I never used this road.

Comrade Junior Lieutenant, may I...

Comrade Junior Lieutenant, they're our fighter planes.

I can see that!

Comrade Junior Lieutenant, can I go to the toilet?

Ok.

Don't run off though - be a shame to shoot you.

Comrade Junior Lieutenant, have you got some paper?

Only your diary. But that s evidence...

It's all about you and your friend...

...and your anti-Soviet plotting.

If I had my way, you'd be shot without a trial...

I won't harm you. I'll just take a little of your strength.

The sick one needs it. Don't worry.

Where am I?

This amulet will help you fight the weakness in your body.

I have to...

Don't be shy.

Go on!

You'll get better. Sleep.

So, Lieutenant? Didn't work out?

I'll piss on your grave yet!

Good morning. I have to get the chain off.

I need a smith.

Do you speak Finnish? I want to get this off!

Do you understand?

You want the iron off? You were a prisoner?

I don't understand you. Do you speak Finnish? You're a Lapp?

I need a smith. Is there a man? I need to get the chain off!

I can't walk like this!

You shout a lot. Shouting never broke an iron.

I'll have a look, my husband had some tools.

Anything you say, Madam.

Your husband?

Sick?

Wounded?

Fritz. SS...

Russian.

I'm not German. You think I'm from the North division?

They make us wear a uniform, so we won't surrender.

Because you don't like Germans, especially in uniform.

Haende hoch! Hitler kaputt!

It'll be hard if that's all the German you know.

Don't worry, the war's over for me.

I'll get the chain off and go home.

Do you understand?

A cuckoo - a condemned sniper, for crying out loud...

You were probably in that car.

I couldn't understand why the Russian planes fired at you?

Shoot, you scum. My lot'll put me up against a wall anyway...

I'm Veiko. And you? Ivan?

- Get lost! - Gerlost!

Veiko, Gerlost... And you?

Anni. I just told you my real name!

You can put the eye on me now.

Anni, Gerlost, Veiko...

A pleasure to meet you.

It's a shame we haven't got anything to celebrate with.

Don't worry about me chatting on - it's the nerves.

A condemned man that survived - that means a lot.

I see...

I don't think they're pleased to see me.

I'm sorry I've disturbed your peace.

I'll take the chain off and go.

Come on. I'll give you the tools.

These are my husband's tools.

Your husband makes Lapland knives?

You're a sharp lad.

Probably had to fight the girls off.

Or did you have a few?

I'll take the chain off and go.

It's my fourth year without a man.

Last night I hugged the Russian...

He slept, but I was aching below the tummy.

You smell bad.

All men smell of iron and death now.

Yes, lots of midges.

When I was chained on the rock, I thought they'd eat me away.

Have you got a sauna? Can I have a wash?

Your skin s white - whiter than any woman I've seen.

The midges bit you because you wash too often.

Four years without a man, and then two at once.

Have the spirits read my thoughts?

He's got my skirt on! Why're you dressed like a woman?!

Grinning, Fritz? Won't be grinning for much longer!

A good knife.

Gerlost, I told you, the war's over for me.

I don't want to kill, but I don't want to be killed. Understand?

Go on, finish me off.

That's my husband's knife - it's mine when he's not here.

Don't go killing each other! I don't plan to bury you both.

What're you waiting for?

Think I'll kill you? The war's over, my friend! Understand?

Peace. The war's over.

Lev Tolstoi, War and Peace.

Shoot, scum.

Lev Tolstoi, War and Peace. Understand?

I understand you're a fascist, you burnt Yasnaya Polyana.

I'm not a fascist. I'm a Finn.

I was at university, then the war - I didn't want to fight.

You Idiot! Fyodor Dostoevsky. The Idiot...

I can't understand a word...

I'm tired of fighting!

Ernest Hemingway - Farewell to Arms!

I don't know Russian.

I should have studied it. Sorry, Gerlost.

Abominable and miserable...

It's beautiful here...

I was a condemned man. Chained to a rock like Prometheus.

But I thought about it, and saw how to get the chain off.

I could have made fire without the glasses.

If I'd shot into dry grass, say. But the glasses were safer...

You don't understand me, but that's not important.

In this filth and muck it's an honor to remain alive.

The main thing is we're alive. You and me.

I hope people will look back in horror at what they did at war.

Maybe they won't. Man is a strange being.

Dostoevsky said that.

You can make a lot of good things with it.

He's cheered up, the fascist.

I never shared the views of the fascists. I'm a democrat.

Fascist, all the same.

Democracy!

Come and eat.

Let's go and eat.

Worried I'll thump you? I would, if it wasn't for the concussion.

It's my second. First was in the winter of '42-'43.

Can I have some more?

You eat a lot. To eat a lot, you have to work a lot.

Thank you.

Thank you, very tasty.

I don't drink coffee. But thanks anyway.

Stupid woman.

Got a smoke?

Got a snout? Bitte eine Zigarette.

If I had, I'd smoke it myself.

Thanks, fascist.

Take it off, I'll wash it.

Take that off as well.

You just love wrapping yourself up in clothes.

You're not bad. Girls like your kind.

Fritz!

She seems to like you.

What're you in a dress for? Take it off, you look silly.

Gerlost!

Gerlost, you're shy. The Lapps don't understand that.

They live a simple life.

You rabbit a lot. My ears are ringing from all those words.

She hasn't got much fish ready. The winter will be hard.

We're just extra mouths to feed. We have to go quickly.