Fantastic Fest 2008: Sauna

I was very excited to see Sauna. After having seen so much great looking trailers and promotional reels for AJ Annila’s follow up to his Finnish martial arts lick The Jade Warrior I was eager to see it. Sauna tells the tale of two brothers, Finnish by birth and living in Sweden, who join the commission to redraw and map the border between Russia and Sweden, a border torn apart by years of war. One of the brothers, Eerik, is hardened by those years of war the other, Knut, is more gentle, learned and honorable. One night while searching for provisions for their trip Eerik succumbs to his blood lust while the Knut, faced with sexual temptation when he is alone with daughter of the man his brother is bludgeoning to death. Aware of this temptation he locks her in the cellar. Eerik says they will return once the commission is over to release her. They never do. Soon their party comes across a vast swamp and there is a small village smack in the middle of it. Outside of this village is the Sauna. Knut is no sooner seeing images of the young woman he left in the cellar, her hands covering her face, holding back a thick black liquid streaming from her face.

To say that his film was impeccably shot is an understatement. Sauna is stunningly gorgeous to watch. Despite its mute tones and neutral color palette it is a beautiful film to look at. Strangely vibrant for such a desolate location- the middle of a swamp between Russia and Sweden. AJ’s direction and Iiro Küttner’s script certainly does challenge viewers to create an understanding of the central themes regarding sins, forgiveness and redemption. And it is awfully short as well- nearly over before it began. I was shocked how quickly everything came together at the end that it felt that it reached its conclusion too soon. The journey to that moment was so mysterious and beautiful it felt a shame that it finished when it did. It felt very much like walking, eyes forward, and then there is no more ground at your feet and you drop off the face of the earth. I hadn’t quite made up my mind yet on how this film played out and it was already over.

Could it go on another 30 minutes and extend for a full 2 hours? Probably not, but it just felt rushed and hurried right near the end when the time spent getting there was passively paced, you know, when AJ wasn’t scaring the crap out you with just awesome jump scenes. There are some doozies in it. His film is well crafted, his skills behind the camera are awesome. So the reason I am standing on the fence with Sauna has to be with the script from Iiro Küttner. I don’t know if leaving the viewer with more questions than answers was the right way to go with this one.

Sauna is might bit confounding. I don’t know if I am completely satisfied with it. I understand the themes of redemption and forgiveness all too well stemming from my own faith. I am pretty sure I don’t want it to happen this way though. Almost a great and perfect film.