They were supposed to meet at the River Kiertämä... They Never Made It... SAUNA

Once upon a time, in the barren wilderness, there was a swamp,  with a sauna ...

When the monks came there, long ago, they built a monastery and a village beside it. They thought they could wash away their sins in the sauna... Then they misteriously disappeared...

In 1595, after the 25-year war between Sweden and Russia, a delegation with two brothers, Erik and Knut, and a Russian team have been appointed by both warring parties to map the new borders between the countries, right through the forbidding wastelands of northern Finland. Erik, the older brother, is ageing and has built his whole existence around the war and is not happy that it's finally ended: He believes he has not yet received the prosperity and protection for himself and his family that he deserves. Now he's being robbed of what's his, and he is becoming cynicism and bitterness personified; having killed 73 men, women and children (apparently) he let's his vengeful wrath fall upon a father with his young daughter, stabbing him 73 times. His younger brother Knut, an aspiring academic, is attracted by the girl and locks her up in order to save her from the anger of his brother. But when they leave they forget to let her out...

After a while Knut starts hearing the girl's lamentable whispers in the wind; he sees her across the wastes as a ghost dressed in white. At the same time the commission stumble upon a village. They ask if they pay tax to the Swedish king or the Czar, but they have no idea where they belong. But this fact is the least of the map writers' worries now... It's a strange village, right in the middle of a stretch of wetland, with 73 people, including only one child. And there's a white building right in the middle of the swamp -- a sauna, where, traditionally, the new-born children and the dead were washed from their sins...

Sauna (2008) is something rare as a Finnish horror film. Though Dark Floors was a co-production between Finland and Iceland, we Scandinavians are more used to having our Nordic horror flicks coming out of Norway or Denmark, mainly. Sauna is a very skilfully crafted film that slowly builds up tension; it creates a mood of absolute despondency and fear of the unknown -- all the film's character is built upon layers and layers of smothering uneasiness and dread, created from a beautiful environment with a lovely cinematography. There aren't any prominent special effects, what I can see; there's only some blood. More important, however, is the wonderful performance of the brothers that leads us through a waking nightmare that starts out subtly and slowly and culminates in a shocking display of macabre and beautiful horror.

I must confess I do not completely understand Sauna; but that's not a problem, because logic and safety is not always the most promissing attribute for a movie such as this. To be on the safe side, you could see this  as a journey through the dark minds of twisted psyches, tormented by the desolate landscape surrounding them ... just to be on the safe side ... If you really want to.