The movie begins in late 1944, as Finland loses the Continuation War, agreeing to sign the Moscow
Armistice with the Soviet Union stipulating that they expel all Nazi soldiers from the Lapland.
Angered by this move, the German forces deployed their "Scorched Earth" tactic,
destroying all establishments and roads along their path to retaliate against the Finnish.
THE GOLD Amid the chaos brought about
by the Lapland War, a scruffy old prospector, Aatami Korpi, travels to a rocky outcrop alone
with his horse and his obedient Bedlington Terrier in the wilderness. On a crisp, downcast morning,
he washes a dirt sample from the ground. To his surprise, he sees a speck of gold in the strainer,
indicating the land is rich in minerals. He then spends the next few days digging
and mining for gold while oblivious to the war happening elsewhere when German planes fly by.
One night, he sees bright lights from gunfire and explosions in the distance, feeling apathetic
while twisting his wedding ring. Eventually, Aatami digs deep enough that he uncovers a huge
gold vein, moving him to tears as he pulls it out and breaks it into pieces. With his quest over,
he washes off in the brook, revealing a massive battle scar running down his body. He loads
the gold nuggets on his horse and heads for the nearest town while his terrier follows.
THE NAZIS Amid his solemn travel home,
Aatami passes through a convoy of a 30-man Nazi Wehrmacht platoon led by SS Obersturmführer Bruno
Helldor. His subordinate Wolf has just finished taking advantage of a young female in the back
of the truck filled with several other Finnish women from the nearby village. Aatami sees the
captives but remains speechless as he goes his own way, with Helldorf letting him pass without
issue. He then rides his horse along a road where several corpses are hung on the posts.
As he reaches the outskirts, a group of Nazi soldiers guarding the border stops him and
unearths the gold nuggets in his saddlebags. As they prepare to execute him and steal the bounty,
Aatami suddenly strikes, quickly and brutally killing the men with his combat skills. Somehow,
the commotion is heard by Bruno, and he turns their tank around to
investigate the area where the gunfire erupted. Soon, they discover their comrades' corpses,
though one is still breathing but bleeding out. He picks up one of the gold nuggets from his hand,
realizing Aatami has something valuable they can seize. They immediately pursue him, firing their
tank to get his attention. The beaten Aatami continues his way, calming his horse as they
go their way. Unfortunately, it steps on a mine, causing an explosion that rips apart the horse and
badly injures Aatami, much to Bruno's delight. THE MINEFIELD
Not long after, he awakens bloodied and horrified at the sight of his dead traveling
companion. Realizing he was led straight through a minefield, he gathers up his gold hurriedly
in plain view of the Nazi platoon, watching enthusiastically. After picking up a stone,
he stands defiantly and stares at the soldiers. Before he gets shot, he throws the rock at a mine,
detonating it so that he can escape. Disappointed, Bruno sends soldiers one
at a time to chase after him, but they are not careful enough to see where they are stepping on,
exploding upon contact with mines. Unfazed by this situation, Bruno releases two captive women,
ordering them to proceed to ensure a clear path through the field. One of the young women, Aino,
volunteers to be the guide in place of the other beaten girl. As they leave,
Bruno uncovers Aatami's dog tag with a serial number left behind by the corpse.
THE LEGEND Later, the platoon safely traverses
the road, walking ahead with the two women tied together. Inside the tank, Wolf is informed by
their commander to turn back and head to Norway, saying they were lucky to live after scuffling
with Aatami, who is revealed to be a ruthless Finnish commando. He explains to Bruno that the
man lost his family and home fighting against the Russian Red Army during the Winter War. He gets
sent out alone in the wilderness without anything to live for. He becomes a legendary 'one-man death
squad,' hunting down Communist patrols with over 300 dead by his hand. He is infamously
nicknamed Koschei (The Immortal) by the Russians because of his methods. Despite knowing this,
Bruno defies the commander's orders. He lets the platoon continue, believing they must retrieve the
gold to retire since the war is already lost. Meanwhile, Aatami rests near a wrecked truck,
nursing his wounds while his terrier watches over him in the distance. Not long after he drifts
asleep near the tire of the truck, he is awakened by the platoon's approach and hides underneath.
Seeing that the hunting dogs will quickly sniff out his location, he hurriedly hangs underneath
one of the German vehicles. He stabs the fuel tank with his knife to douse himself in gasoline,
hiding his smell. His plan works, but the convoy stops to inspect the leak when a soldier notices
drops of gasoline on the road. He then rolls out from underneath and flees downhill as
Bruno orders the dogs to chase after him. Astoundingly, the old man lights a match,
ignites himself to ward off the hounds, and then leaps onto the nearby lake to save himself from
getting burnt entirely. Aatami holds his breath underwater while the Nazi soldiers wait for him
to swim to the surface. After shooting him, two soldiers dive in to retrieve the gold,
only for Aatami to slit their throats and breathe in the escaping air from their necks. The soldier
left on the rowboat becomes frightened and paddles ashore, prompting Wolf to shoot him for desertion.
Fortunately, Aatami survives, appearing from underneath the boat, infuriating the platoon.
Wolf returns to the tank and fires directly at him while the old man shields himself
with the corpse of their comrade, running away towards a field. Amid the gunfire,
Bruno sees his dog barking for him by the dock, giving him leverage against Aatami.
SCORCHED EARTH By nightfall,
the bruised old man returns to the town, only to discover it has been razed and raided by
the Nazis. He grows weary, taking shelter in a petrol station, and closes his eyes after hearing
memories of his sad past. Before completely drifting off, he hears his terrier approaching
and stands by to reunite with it. However, he sees a dynamite attached to it, forcing him to take
it off while getting subdued by the explosion. Not long after, he awakens seeing Bruno, Wolf,
and tank driver Schütze preparing a noose on the petrol sign to hang him to death. Powerless,
he remains speechless as they string him up onto the signpost and watch him choke. After
taking off their hats as a sign of respect, Bruno puts the gold nugget in his pocket and
takes off with his satchel while the men victoriously laugh. Unbeknownst to them,
Aatami remains alive, sticking his wound to a protruding rebar to keep his weight balanced
while he hangs from the noose. The following morning, he awakens as a plane swoops into town,
sending a shockwave that slightly breaks the signpost and loosens the noose to make him fall.
While scouting for fuel, the two Germans pilots see the old man and notice he is still alive.
Before the engineer shoots him dead, Aatami knocks him off-balance to kill him. He then grabs a brick
and bashes the other pilot's head. Though he initially buries the gold nugget left behind
by Bruno to admit defeat, he changes his mind upon realizing he can force the surviving pilot to fly
him to the platoon and recover his gold bounty. Before doing so, he quickly removes all the
shrapnel in his wounds, tying them with a metal string and cauterizing them with gasoline fire.
Sometime later in the afternoon, Bruno arranges for a pilot to fly him, Wolf,
and Schütze away from the rest of the platoon heading for Norway. The convoy suddenly stops, and
the German platoon discovers the plane crashed in the middle of the road. Wolf shudders in disbelief
as he opens the cockpit door to reveal the pilot hung by the same noose Wolf he used on Aatami.
Realizing he is still at large, Bruno orders the men to arm up and hurry toward their rendezvous
point. As they leave, Aino chuckles, explaining to the two guards that Aatami will never stop
hunting them now that they have pissed him off. They shrug off her warning, only to get stuck
with the old man's pickaxe, throwing out one of the soldiers from the truck to get crushed by
the tank. Aatami quietly climbs onto the back and arms the captive women with firearms he retrieved
from their corpses. KILL 'EM ALL
He then hurriedly guides Aino to the front of the truck, killing the driver so she can
commandeer the wheel. She steps on the brakes, allowing him to leap onto Bruno's tank. Driving
on the side of another transport truck, she flags the driver, who becomes flustered as
the women open the back flaps and shoot down the soldiers, with Aino killing the driver.
Meanwhile, Aatami strikes the tank door with his pickaxe to force Bruno and his cohorts out. Wolf
climbs to shoot him, only to brawl with him as they jump off the tank and hit the dirt road.
The badly beaten soldier pleads for mercy while two soldiers on a motorcycle retreat
upon seeing the old man. He then leaves him to sulk on the road as he steals the bike to
chase after Bruno. Unfortunately for Wolf, he is ganged up by the women, led by Aino,
who prepare to shoot him dead for his atrocities. Later, Bruno and Schütze arrive at the landing
strip, where the pilot is waiting. Since Bruno had previously agreed over the radio that he would be
the sole passenger in the aircraft, he callously kills his tank driver before taking off. However,
not long before the plane leaves the runway, Aatami appears, shooting the windshield and
mortally wounding the pilot. He then drives toward the underside to latch onto the aircraft
with his pickaxe while airborne, unbeknownst to Bruno, who thinks he has been left on the ground.
Amid the precarious ascent, Aatami tries to hold on to the plane's wheels while the wind blows
strongly. He then manages to hack through the haul, engaging in a fierce scuffle with Bruno.
Though equally matched in their fighting prowess, the Nazi soldier knocks Aatami down and beats him
with a static cable hanging from the ceiling to incapacitate him. His continuous whips leave the
old man bloodied and disoriented. Fortunately, as Bruno strikes again, Aatami quickly hooks
the line to a bomb, releasing it through the bomb-bay door with the Nazi soldier, who dies.
Though struggling to find his bearings, he moves toward the cockpit to find the pilot has succumbed
to his wounds, leaving the plane unmanned as it dives below at high speed. He then straps himself
in as the aircraft crashes into a marshland. Meanwhile, the women meet with the Finnish unit,
who look astonished upon seeing them onboard the German tank with Wolf attached to the guzzle.
FINAL CHAPTER Moments after,
Aatami miraculously survives, crawling out of the mud with his trusty pickaxe and reuniting with his
terrier. He gets on the motorbike and travels to war-torn Helsinki. Entering a local bank,
bruised and weary, he approaches the attendant, and the well-dressed bankers
stare astoundingly at him. He empties his bag, dropping all the gold nuggets on the
counter. The movie ends as he speaks for the first time since his ordeal, asking the lady
to exchange his bounty for banknotes since they will not be a burden to carry with him.