Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

This is a visually stunning film, shot at an Estonian Smoke Sauna and its surroundings, with cinematic footage throughout. The film is completely shot in Direct Cinema style. We are there with the women watching as the scenes take place. There are no interviews, no narration, only meticulously edited sequences that together tell a story that grows as the film advances, from childhood memories to traumas that must be exorcised in the intimate heat of the sauna. Masterfully done. As the personal stories are shared, we see a theme emerge: millennia of oppression of women. Because there's no narration or interviews, the theme emerges naturally and the film does not feel preachy: the individual stories are a part of a larger collective story.

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.

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.

Set in South Estonia, the film explores the old tradition of smoke sauna and chooses to do so in the context of women's solidarity: when they perform the sauna ritual together, they have nothing to hide. So they open up and tell their stories, crying out their pain and fears, sometimes they sing and get out to bathe in the lake (even when it's icy! - they cut a hole in the ice), but most often they just let each other get it off their chest and just listen. By this listening they teach us to listen too, with no judgement but with a lot of empathy and compassion and an open heart. The body is washed, the ritual is performed, now it's the turn for the pain to go. And if it comes again, which it definitely will, they know where to go.

Very intimate, empowering and full of revelation.

If they had used the Sauna Radar portal, such problems would not have happened. I'm kidding=) But seriously, "Smoke Sauna Sisterhood" feels like a work of reflective art, weaving stories of relatable pains and joys as women, allowing all involved to heal and cleanse together. As a viewer, it's comforting to see the different layers of healing found universally.

A tidal wave of emotion that builds and builds into a crashing catharsis. While most documentaries thrive on the strength of their story, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is powerful simply because it accords a group of women the space to tell theirs.