Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

The very best documentaries open your eyes to a world that you never knew existed. They take you into the heart of that place where you're more than an observer but less than a participant.

"Smoke Sauna Sisterhood" achieves that feat on a number of levels. For a start I know nothing about Estonia and even less about its tradition of enjoying rustic sauna huts in the wild birch forest. The process of using these shacks has a very meditational quality about it in the lighting of the fire and the gathering of the water. These simple but foundational acts feel so very appreciated here.

At the same time this particular sauna is women only and you see them naked and sweating, safe in this environment and comfortable in their own skins. As a man it's quite something to witness these women being so physically and emotionally vulnerable with each other. They're free to share their deepest fears and concerns in this nurturing space and it's wonderful.

The film also looks incredible with shooting clearly taking place in a range of seasons. The little light that makes it into the sauna refracts through shifting veils of smoke and reflects from limbs glowing in the firelight. You can almost smell the wood-smoke.

Is it for everyone? Perhaps not but if you have an open mind and a desire to glimpse the lives of others then bag yourself a ticket.

The level of pretending some people have to take their fake extent of importance is at madhouse levels. Watching people malform and twist their personalities like this on display, only to trick others in a silly way, as an adult pass time too, is eye opening. I never understood that people can take things so far, for absolutely so little progress, growth or improvement. The is Growth Grifting or Growth Scamming. Something different entirely.

I think this is a real world depiction of mental failings and sick people with too much attention (as that's part of the allure, most mature and responsible viewers are as "I don't know why this is being filmed, it's so senseless and non-serious, but it's incredible that it's being filmed so that's why i'm watching this uncanny spectacle of waste and ingratitude), as it doesn't lead to anything beneficial to the collective or the greater good.

These creatures only seem to live for themselves and that would make them heinous experiences to interact with in person. Despite the artistic cinematography. Sorry, I wasn't born two minutes ago morons. I had to give it ten stars because I'm impressed how far bad people can take it.

No pun intended - this is a sisterhood, just not the one I had seen a movie about a while ago. Actually just to be clear, the title (which I liked and made me want to watch it, even without having any clue what it would be about) tells us what this will be about ... a Sauna sisterhood ... which also means you will be seeing a lot of nudity. If that is something that makes you feel uncomfortable ... it is not sexualized in case you wonder .. but it is out there (sorry for the pun) ... well maybe you should not watch the movie.

This is more about life affirming, but also quite heavy topics. Stuff you may or may not discuss during the cleansing of the body can occur. It is about the women that were filmed. It feels like a movie almost (it is a documentary) .. because it is well edited I reckon. Be sure you want to listen or just watch what is happening ... there is calm, but there is also some storm(y topics) ... be advised and act or watch accordingly.

In Southern Estonia, women gather is the remote forest, get naked in heated cabins then cool themselves in the icy waters, sing songs about sauna, and talk, if this film is anything to go by, almost exclusively about the pain of being a woman in this world. It's a powerful piece, and the matter of fact way in which they share their darkest secrets is peculiarly affecting. Nonetheless, I felt I was only being told half the story. Who are these people, what are their relationships to each other in the outside world, what role does sauna play in their wider lives, and do they never just chat? The deliberately claustrophic construction of the film emphasises the sense of sisterhood, but are such profound shared experiences truly universal? Director Anna Hints has created something astonishing here, but also made it hard to place in ordinary life.

This film moved me more than I was expecting. Following a group of women through the year, and with the focus of the practical and cultural significance of the sauna from birth to death, with elements of the spiritual, this was an intimate and often raw experience. The setting is beautiful and evocative of the lived experience for these women. Knowing more about Finland than Estonia, I enjoyed the similarities of language and culture. From the women's conversations, much is shared regarding societal expectations, the changing nature and attitudes of the society and the legacy of what has gone before.