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Maybe you’ve seen the sauna at your gym and walked right past. Or maybe you’ve spent some time inside while recovering from a good workout. But for the women in the Estonian documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Savvusanna sõsarad), there’s so much more to the sauna experience than just muscle recovery.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood travels to South Estonia, where the smoke sauna tradition has been a part of the culture for hundreds of years—and is now listed by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The film follows a number of women as they enter the sauna together to cleanse their bodies and their minds. In the heat and darkness, they open up about their childhood experiences, the expectations placed upon women, and their long-held pain. They share their memories, their tears, and their laughter while performing these beloved cultural practices.
For the women who gather together inside the sauna, the cleansing ritual goes beyond just their physical bodies. As they go through the process, they cleanse their souls of the pain of the past. They talk about bad experiences, toxic relationships, grief, and loss. They open up about their feelings of inferiority, their failures, and their fears. And they do so knowing that the sauna is a safe place—a place where they’re protected by this priceless sisterhood.
As the women tell their stories, the camera moves in the darkness, offering close shots of body parts and the occasional facial expression. It’s all done in shadows, offering these women privacy and anonymity as they open up about their deepest secrets. Viewers aren’t introduced to the women or even their rituals. There’s no background here to explain what’s going on and why. We’re simply invited inside the circle with the women, allowing the women to stay somewhat hidden in the darkness.
Really, then, this film isn’t about the smoke sauna tradition as much as it’s about the women who gather there. It’s about what women share with their closest friends, when they feel free to open their hearts and speak their minds. It isn’t a documentary filled with information, but it’s an incredibly intimate portrait of these women.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is a quiet, simple film about women and tradition. Viewers may sometimes feel a little lost as the women walk through these unfamiliar rituals, but it’s nevertheless a moving film about the hidden pain and emotion of the women who gather together in the sauna to cleanse their bodies and their spirits.
You can join the cultural conversation of Smoke Sauna Sisterhood by watching in select theaters and on demand.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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