‘Smoke Sauna Sisterhood’: Sundance Review

Dir/scr: Anna Hints. Estonia. 2022. 89mins

A woodland sauna is refuge and confessional for a group of Estonian women in Smoke Sauna Sisterhood. Anna Hints’ affecting documentary uses a simple premise to capture an intimate, sympathetic portrait of women reflecting on profound personal and social issues around love, loss, self-esteem and the crushing straitjacket of a patriarchal society. It provides a fascinating insight into a community, and should attract warm attention at festivals following a world premiere at Sundance.

Conveys the sense of a cleansing that is both physical and spiritual

It is only in the closing titles of the film that Hints reveals that the smoke saunas of Southern Estonia are “part of the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Of Humanity”. In the bulk of the film there is no context of how long this particular cabin in the woods has existed, where it is located or the women who have become its regulars. Instead, Hints immerses us in the preparations and the experience. A square is carved out of a frozen lake to create a plunge pool. Logs are gathered, smoke starts to float upwards into the air, water hisses from warming rocks. Soon there are just the naked bodies, the imperfections of human flesh, the sweating pores and the sense of peace in a dark, womb-like warm space.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is a film that places you in the moment of relaxation, conveys the sense of a cleansing that is both physical and spiritual. Here, you are free to say anything, trivial or significant. There is no judgement or filter. We eavesdrop on the sharing of stories that cover everything from periods to pregnancy, abortion to cancer, body shaming to sexuality and the male propensity for sending dick pics.There is a consistent questioning of a collective past in which a previous generation accepted that a “woman’s virginity is her greatest asset” and that marriage was something that lasted until death, regardless of individual happiness, compatibility or even physical safety.

A ghostly presence seems visible through the clouds of steam, speaking the attitudes of a past the women have fought to escape. Collectively, the women emerge as a generation seeking change and wanting to build a better future for those who follow them. Simple images prove the most moving, not least when a mother brings her smiling baby into the sauna, cradling it in her arms.

Set amidst changing seasons of sunny summers and icy winters, the film explores a phenomenon steeped in ritual and tradition. Leaves are gathered and softened to create the brooms that are used to whack bodies, stimulate blood flow and remove toxins. Salt is rubbed into the flesh. The women break into song and incantation seeking to “sweat out all the pain, sweat out all the fear”. The cabin is sometimes used to smoke meats that are then consumed at their communal gatherings.

Hints has clearly developed a a strong bond of trust with the women. Few names are mentioned, some faces are never seen, but there is no sense of an outsider looking in, instead a feeling of someone in harmony with her subject. The camera is often still, particularly during some of the most heartrending revelations as one woman talks of coming out to her family or another recalls being raped as a teenager. The smoke sauna may be the one place where they can share precious pieces of themselves in the knowledge that they will be met with love and understanding. Hints’ respectful approach to the women and the setting underlines why it is such a cherished part of her country’s cultural heritage.