The Finns and their sauna are inseparable from each other. There are more than 1.5 million saunas in Finland – one for every four Finns. Feelings are externalized here. The heat opens pores and hearts. There is a lot of talk about women’s feelings since the turn of the century; there are documentaries and media discussions about it. But what about the men? The two documentarians Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen asked themselves that and gave men the opportunity to pour their heart out on camera. Nudity creates intimacy, the heat breaks down barriers. No one can see you cry in a sauna and that’s how different characters can vent. It’s about loss and guilt, loneliness and death. But there are moments of hope, a new life, new love. Berghäll and Hotakainen travelled around the country and the saunas were set up in trailers and phone cells. Many different people, classes, and stories are captured in the middle of the picturesque scenery. A soldier meets a homeless man, a jailbird meets a train conductor. Moving fates and marked bodies tell their own story. That’s how the survey of the Finnish male soul came to be. The touching documentary became a hit with audiences in its home country and was even submitted to the Oscars. The two directors made a director’s cut of it this past year and film distributor temperclay is now bringing it to German cinemas for the first time. There’s a dubbed version so there are less barriers for audiences. This emotional center is what WAS MÄNNER SONST NICHT ZEIGEN is all about – and it hits home.

Lars Tunçay

Translation: Elinor Lewy