Favorite Movies

[LavCat]

Hi,

I'm still watching Sauna/Filth, once even in slow motion. Unfortunately I can't convince anyone else to see it.

Actually, I did get it from NetFlix a few weeks ago. And, IIRC, at your recommendation. Magi and I watched it for about 20 minutes, but could not really get interested in it. The behavior of the characters seemed somehow wrong, as if they had motives or driving forces that were not brought out in the narrative. They appeared to overreact to some things and to react in strange, almost inappropriate ways to others. Perhaps (probably) we lacked the necessary background to understand the film, but for us, it didn't work.

But I do appreciate the reference. So many films, so little time. Suggestions help.

--Pete

So sorry that Sauna didn't work for you, Pete. Since I can't log onto Stormrage, and am missing Wintergrasp, I went back to see if I could analyze the characters' motives for what was going on. For some reason I don't usually approach movies quite that way, at least on first viewing.

Sauna opens at the conclusion of the Russo-Swedish War. The entire span of action takes place within about a fortnight. The war is said to have been a twenty five year war. Technically the historical Russo-Swedish war was only from 1590 to 1595, but since Russia and Sweden had been fighting most of the time since 1558, a twenty five year war is not far off. The Treaty of Teusina or the Eternal Peace with Sweden, as the Russians call it, was concluded in 1595 and lasted fifteen years -- pretty good for those days -- though neither monarch, Sigismund nor Boris Godunov, ever signed it.

Events at the beginning of the movie stick closely to the description in the treaty. Captain Erik Antinpoika Spore (which I think means son of Antin), leader of the Swedish half of the joint Border Commission, hacks an Orthodox peasant in a border village newly liberated from the Russians. Erik can't quite get used to peace. "Seventy three," he tells his younger brother, Knut. That's the number Erik has killed, men, women, children. Erik obsessively keeps track. The treaty term for the men of the Border Commission is "voivodes", which literally means warlords.

The characters are fictional, but it was a real, historical commission, in a real place and time. Some of the survey marks still stand.

If it helps, imagine the setting were closer to home (i.e. for this purpose, the U.S.), say, in 1783. The geography between the U.S. and Canada was not well known, and the Treaty of Paris created anomalies such as the Northwest Angle of Minnesota. Before the war recall Ohio and some of Minnesota had been part of Quebec. Further imagine there had been a joint Border Commission made up of U.S. and British officers, who were to survey and mark this border.

After the murder Erik realizes they have to leave fast. He is a person of some importance, but in the words of the treaty:

If some rogues on either side have committed a crime or inflicted damage by murdering, robbery, arson or by other crookery, the prevailing peace should not be violated, or war be undertaken, but high commanders and orderlies of both sides should assemble to the boundary at the site of the incident, for investigation and to set a punishment and correction on their sides.

Erik tells Knut to get the people ready. Knut, in some distress, tells his brother he has locked the peasant's daughter in the cellar. Erik says not to worry, that he will let her out. We learn later in a flashback why it was the peaceable and out-of-place Knut had shut her in. While Erik took the peasant's supplies, Knut had thought to rape the daughter. Not sure what motive. Maybe it's a guy thing?

Erik has a pretty clear motive for wanting to get away. Erik and Knut and their men ride to the encampment of their Russian counterparts, led by Vassily Yermolaevich Semenski. Knut see a like spirit in Semenski, who is studying native plants and insects, and who hopes to have a discovery named for him. Knut is hoping for a geography professorship in Stockholm, and is on the Commission only because they are surveying the only unexplored territory of Sweden. What Erik wants is land for his family, and he is rather disappointed with his little brother, whom he dearly loves.

North of their location lies a large swamp. Finland, I am told by a Finnish friend, means literally the land of swamps. Semenski suggests they simply stipulate that the border run straight through the center of the swamp, and just ride around. Erik, wanting to avoid pursuit for the little matter of the dead peasant, says that unless Semenski wants to cede the swamp to Sweden, they must survey and mark the border. Semenski gives in, and they send the horses and most of the team of peasants around the swamp, planning to meet them on the other side.

Erik, Knut and his compass, and three Russians start off through the swamp on foot. Erik is afraid of water because he sees bodies of his victims. Knut is terribly afraid they are being followed by the girl he had almost raped. Of the other two Russians besides Semenski, Captain Musko is in love with Knut. So far all the motives are straightforward and quite clear. Ivan Rogosin is a nice guy, but we don't yet know why he's there. Rogosin is sort of a Greek chorus in a way, speculating about hell. Later Semenski tells Musko: "Ivan mostly cared about the state business." Why this is would be too much of a spoiler.

Then there is Poika. But if you only watched for twenty minutes you probably never met Poika.

Admittedly the plot is dense and hard to follow, though it might help to speak Fininsh and Russian. Not all of the Russian dialog gets subtitles. Plus the people speaking are not always the characters on screen.

In any event, the film won awards for its costumes and sets, not necessarily for its screenplay.