Shadowland

This is the most surprising and promising Finnish documentary film I have ever seen. Such utterly unexpected story, and incredible execution. The world captivates you and it is filled with hope, yet you ask where this can be going, and then comes the shocking dramatic twist... Which you never hoped for but maybe you did feel it coming... Terrifying, and so sad, and simultaneously maybe best two hours I have ever experienced with Finnish cinema?? The cross in the dark! I have never seen AND FELT such beautiful images in Finnish films. Sorry since I am a Finn, to ask this, but how can this possibly be Finnish in any way? And now I hope, everyone found their Grail....

While documentaries aren't usually written in the same way fiction is, there still exists a script. The first job of the script is to show potential financeers that there is something to the topic worth documenting and after that it's a preliminary plan. And while plans never survive the actual implementation it is still helpful to have one, because you will be better prepared when the plan fails.

That being said, I am pretty sure the plan with this movie was not this. Looking at this from the outside, it would seem that the filmmakers were interested in the occult and had a good basis to get funding in the form of the infamous Richard Stanley. It just turned out that Stanley became even more infamous during the process.

Personally, I am not religious at all, but I am interested in the spiritial paths people take. However, I have seen people use religion and spirituality as an excuse or.atonement, so I have a strong mistrust of these people. So, the experience of this movie was mostly about whether these people are true believers or not.

And it would seem that some are, some aren't.

This religion they practice seems like a step between paganism and Catholicism and is thus interesting. Their practice feels very much improvised rather than formal even though there seems to be some grimoires and other notes regarding their magic.

All in all an interesting look at the region they inhabit and the traditions that still live on in there, but then there is a twist that I'm not still quite sure about, but things just happen in documentaries, so the filmmakers didn't really have a choice and it is good that this was documented.