“Scoring Sisu: Composer Tuomas Wäinölä on Creating an Explosive Soundscape for Finland’s Wildest WWII Action Film”

Sisu, directed by Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander, is a gritty WWII action thriller set in the harsh, desolate landscapes of Lapland during the final days of the war. As German forces occupy Northern Finland, the film follows Aatami — a hardened prospector who’s lost everything — as he takes on an army of Nazis with raw, near-mythical force. But beneath the film’s brutal action beats lies an equally intense creative process — especially when it comes to the music.

In an exclusive look behind the scenes, composer Tuomas Wäinölä opened up about the creative collaboration with Helander and fellow composer Juri Seppä, revealing how Sisu’s score was born not just from musicality, but from a world-building approach that blurred the lines between sound design and composition.

“We started by just talking about the world of the film — the tone, the atmosphere, the rules of this brutal, cinematic universe,” Wäinölä says. “Jalmari, Juri and I sat down and watched an early cut of the film, one that already had temp tracks. From there, we discussed where the music needed to live — and what kind of music belonged there.”

Wäinölä describes the entire scoring process as “alive” — a fluid, ever-shifting experience, full of trial, experimentation, and instinct. Helander’s openness to creative input was, he says, a major source of inspiration.

“The collaboration was incredibly informative, artistically rich, and respectful throughout,” he says. “Sometimes Jalmari would decide that instead of music, a particular moment needed a specific sound — because it just sounded cooler. That kind of decision-making kept us on our toes.”

When asked about working with Helander, Wäinölä doesn't hold back:

“Honestly, Jalmari is a dream director. He’s insanely talented — like, truly off the charts. He’s watched every movie ever made and remembers them frame-for-frame. I’m not exaggerating. And the way he makes the music process easy is by only demanding one thing: that it feels f**ing incredible. That’s it. He doesn’t care how you get there — just make it sound amazing.”*

“That freedom pushes you,” Wäinölä adds. “It makes you spend hours in the studio chasing some weird sound that has a 1% chance of working — but you go for it, because you’re on fire about it. And if I’m excited by something, I believe others will feel it too.”

The Sisu score, Wäinölä notes, leans at times more toward sound design than traditional composition. Its musical themes are minimal — “It’s not a thematic score in the traditional sense,” he admits. But there are recurring textures and motifs: a guttural male choir appears during key scenes where Aatami gains the upper hand, while a militaristic rhythm underscores the German soldiers.

His approach to scoring was refreshingly unorthodox:

“I often try to create sounds I’ve always wanted to hear but never have. Or just do something that seems impossible. Chaos can be a great ally. These days, I record everything — anything. I’ve got all kinds of gear around me and I just capture sounds to see if something inspires me.”

“It’s not always about composing,” he continues. “It’s more like collecting syllables and fragments and later figuring out what they want to become. I try to avoid overthinking, especially at the wrong moments. You need room for the subconscious to do its thing.”

Still, Wäinölä acknowledges that sometimes, instincts need course-correction:

“Luckily, there’s feedback — someone tells you, ‘Nope, this is completely wrong, let’s try something else.’ And that’s fine. There’s no one right way to do this. If I had to pick my easiest way to score, I’d probably just loop the scene and jam on guitar. But sometimes I prefer not to play anything — just watch and listen to what starts playing in my head.”

“I trust that there’s a smarter guy somewhere in my subconscious,” he adds with a grin. “And I try to give him space to speak.”

Final Thoughts

Wäinölä’s deep-dive into the Sisu score reflects not just a composer’s technical skill, but a creative philosophy rooted in intuition, experimentation, and trust. The key takeaway is clear: when a director gives composers room to explore — to take risks and chase strange, beautiful sounds — the result can be a score that’s not only effective but unforgettable.

In Sisu, the dual-composer approach and fearless experimentation yielded something raw and rare. Wäinölä’s willingness to “think outside the box,” to embrace imperfection and non-linear workflows, offers a compelling blueprint for scoring in a world where the unexpected is often the most powerful.

Text: Riikka Periviita (as a part of her Thesis work 2024)