Sauna

(Antti-Jussi Annila, 2008)

In 1595, in the wake of a territorial war, a group of Swedish and Russian soldiers departs on a mission to mark out the newly agreed borderline between their respective lands. Their journey takes them through vast and largely uncharted swamplands, where they discover a mysterious village and an alien-looking building (the "sauna" of the title) of unknown origin and purpose.
In terms of its imagery and atmosphere, this film is a real beauty. The "sauna" is reminiscent of the monolith in 2001. As a physical object, it's little more than a large rectangular block. Yet it stands at a time and place where it simply ought not to be, and for that reason resonates with an utterly sinister and other-worldly presence.
At times, the story wanders a little aimlessly, and the motivations of the characters are hard to decipher; but there's an intelligent metaphysical mystery at the heart of the film that is worth pondering over even after the credits roll. I can't pretend to know exactly what was supposed to be going on during the film's final moments (and even if I did, I wouldn't necessarily want to spoil the ending by discussing it here) but what I will say is that I haven't seen anything quite like it before, and the imagery was stunning.