‘Smoke Sauna Sisterhood’ - Sundance
Faceless women stripped of their patriarchal roles of caregivers, mothers, wives, and daughters, gather completely bare to compile the spectrum of the female spirit in the confines of a woodland sauna in Estonia. These women are ready to drip off not only sweat but pour out their deepest secrets, desires, and truths in the cleansing, award-winning documentary, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood.
Director Anna Hints matches the warmth and intimacy within the wooden walls of the isolated cabin to the relationships between the woman occupying the space. The documentary takes place throughout the changing seasons but the cold weather and fog don’t stop these women from taking part in the traditional healing process. There is no context given on the longevity of this particular cabin and its inhabitants as Hints throughs her audience right into the preparations for this life-changing visual experience. It becomes a sensory experience as the water hisses on the warm rocks, smoke rises into the air, and the naked bodies drenched in sweat are welcomed onto the screen with darkness and peaceful quiet.
Hint’s subjects are fully committed to her immersive film by being naked the entire time to represent varied portraits of women. The shots of flesh with different textures and contrasts painted by sweat droplets appreciate the imperfections of the female body to tell their stories. Hints balances being intimate with anonymity by never showing above their necks, but because of how deep these women get the viewer feels like they know them without having to see their faces. Their body configurations and tones communicate the emotions behind their words.
Hints places her audience right in the center of the heated room to eavesdrop on a range of conversations from abortion, body image, and sexual assault that are tailored to each woman but universal to all of them in the sauna as well as the world. This is a safe space where judgment will not be directed and they can be as open as they need to be. The universality of their stories is tragic to hear about the mistreatment of women across different cultures and countries. These women seek change and a better future for the generations to come.
The storytelling approach Hints takes is effective in that she doesn’t even have to show a woman’s face for her words to be haunting. As the women dive deeper into their thoughts Hints mirrors the intensity in the environment by crowding the frames, presenting humidity with warmer color grading, and muffled sounds. Even though they are discussing serious topics there are moments to come up for a breath with comedic relief and love as they hold hands and cry together. Hints lets the heat settle as the camera heads outside to gaze over the clouds and breathe in the clean air not weighed down with the worries of the world. There is a reflection period of the stories shared by the resilient women as they use the time to reclaim their power.
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood uses the documentary format to respectfully place the audience into relaxation as they take part in the private ceremony to gain insight into the importance of cleansing and the Estonian community’s practices.