Sauna (Filth)
Sub-Genre- Supernatural
In Attendance- Me
Cast Members of Note- The show stealing Ville Virtanen and Tommi Eronen.
What's it about?- Two brothers head off into the deep recesses of 1500's Finland to draw a map with some Russians. Apparently, Finland was once a part of Sweden, but the Russians wanted it so they fought a war... whatever.
The two brothers (one a happy-go-lucky solider that loves to kill, the other a map making wuss), kill a farmer and nearly rape his teen daughter, but decide to lock her in a root cellar instead. For the record, root cellars back in the 1500's were basically holes in the ground. Sounds nice, doesn't it? They just move along, leaving her to fend for herself, because they have a border to define. Men.
While trying to fairly divvy up the land that will become Finland one day, they come upon a creepy village with a bunch of old people and an even older building which we find out is a "Sauna." Things start to get really weird here, as one of the brothers becomes haunted by the girl they left behind, and the other by a girl who looks like a boy, whom he may want to rape.
I won't spoil anymore here, but suffice it to say that no one gets raped, but men do bathe each other gently. Twice.
The Good- Brilliantly directed, and even more brilliantly acted, Sauna is a really damn good movie. Ville Virtanen steals the show as the tormented and war ravaged older brother, giving a hell of a performance that leaves me wanting more from him.
It's visually breathtaking, moody and dark, and very sparse. Antti-Jussi Annila has a bright future ahead of him in directing, and I hope he does more genre work. I can't say that this movie "Scared" me very much, but it did manage to keep me on the edge of my seat and think things like "Don't go in there!", "Run!", and "Don't go in there, just run!" to myself. Very atmospheric and effective.
The Bad- Not one, but two scenes of naked men bathing each other... say what?!? Things must have been rough and tumble in 1595 Sweden.
The Downright Horrendous- What was with the ending? I'm a fairly smart individual (I think), and I'm still not sure what ended up happening.
The Gory- Most of Sauna was blood-free, but when we did get the gore, it was pretty messy. The last 10 minutes or so is the big gore payoff.
The Naked- Plenty of man ass & peen, but nothing of the female variety.
Best Line- "To protect her. From you." or "All you had to do was come back."
What did we learn?- Don't rape, kill, or abandon anyone. Ever.
Rating- B+ (8.5/10) A wonderfully acted and produced film, Sauna is subtle yet effective in what it sets out to do. It's basically a morality play fused with elements of dread and head scratching horror. See it if you like to feel appreciated as an audience member, because this film does just that.
Final Thoughts- I prefer this kind of sauna... the ones with naked chicks in them.
