Traditions become transcendent in Anna Hint’s debut feature documentary that gets under the skin of the Estonian smoke sauna experience.
★★★★✰
The sauna log cabin where the women in Anna Hint’s debut feature documentary come together and divulge their memories, thoughts and experiences is small and confined. Yet the depth of the women’s stories, the way they entwine (as the women do physically) to paint a picture bigger than the sum of its parts, and the way we sit so closely to the participants throughout the film, gives the sauna an almost infinite, otherwordly quality. In what could potentially be a claustrophobic space, the catharsis that we witness instead paints the small cabin as a place of release and freedom.
When the group of women, who we stay with throughout the film, first enter the pre-lit log cabin, they greet the sauna like an old friend—and it is. The smoke sauna is a long engrained tradition in the county of Võromaa, Estonia. As they shut the door and sit or lie down, they begin to open up and discuss their experiences as women in Estonia. Despite the deeply personal way the vast array of topics including; life, death, sexuality, trauma and societal expectations are covered, they render an affecting level of universality.
We see the women in the film in an especially intimate way, close enough to see the beads of sweat dripping from their skin, as personal stories and experiences flow out of them with ease. It’s as if the heat of the sauna has melted away any friction normally encountered when discussing topics too often shrouded in shame. It is testament to Anna Hint’s direction that the intimacy of the smoke sauna is captured in such a seemingly effortless way, with no sense that there is an intruder dampening the sincerity and candour of the women.
Hint never lingers too long directly on the faces of those speaking. In their place we see close-ups of the women’s bodies, relaxed and tactile with one another. Through these close-ups, or silhouettes and shadows on the cabin walls, the women find an anonymity that reminds us that their experiences could, and in some cases have, belonged to many or all of us. The faces we do see are often listening rather than speaking—it is not just the act of sharing that provides liberation, but being in an environment where you can be truly heard and understood.
In a film where physicality is at the forefront and ever-present, it is surprising how it becomes secondary as the women share more of themselves and cleanse their bodies through sweat, pounding leaves and rubbing salt across their skin. These rituals, centred around the physical, become almost spiritual. This is reflected in the minimal choral score, complimented by the natural soundscape of the leaves hitting skin, laughter and chanting, which together lend the viewing experience a visceral, hypnotic quality. This allows us to feel the power of these rituals that connect the women with themselves, and each other, in ways beyond what is visible on screen.
We take hiatus from the intense sauna through shots of the woodland setting, which evolves throughout the film as the seasons pass by. The changing landscape, of frozen lakes and bare trees that become clear blue skies and lush greenery, gives a timelessness to these women’s experiences. The passing of time and changing of seasons is a commonality that unites generations of humanity from all cultures.
In an early scene, we see the women emerge from the dark sauna to, one by one, plunge themselves into the icy water through a self-carved hole in the frozen lake. The other women hold a ladder, keeping it stable as each of them plunges into the cold. At the film’s closing we see the women enter the lake again, now in a warmer season. They leave the sauna, where light has been pouring through the window, and enter the lake with ease following chanting that exclaims “we sweat out all this pain, we sweat out all that fear”. As we see the women now, peaceful in a lake previously frozen over, we can completely believe this mantra to be true.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is enriched with an overarching gratitude. We’re reminded that the person who lights the sauna, and the person that brings water, is to be thanked. The film, as the rituals themselves, carry this gratitude. Not just for the experience itself, which is undoubtedly a fundamental outlet for those who participate, but for the tradition, the history, the women that have gone before and the women we share struggles with now. Although the film’s perspective, through the lens of Anna Hint and the women featured, centres the female experience, it is the appreciation for a space where we can share and connect that is at the heart of this invigorating documentary.
The Verdict
Anna Hint ignites an appreciation for the long-standing cultural custom of smoke sauna, in a visceral portrait that centres the female experience and the human need for connection.
Words by Lena Moss
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is released 13th October 2023.
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