Strikingly beautiful Finnish art house 'horror' film about guilt, religion, sin and punishment, set in the 16th century, at the end of the Russian/Swedish war.
It's full of atmosphere, symbolism, and unanswered questions. Two Swedish brothers/soldiers -- one intellectual, the other violent and borderline mad -- come to a strange town where they are confronted with eerie reminders of their sins, and of those they have killed in war.
Slow paced, but not boring. However, the underlying ideas do get stretched a bit thin over time, and the occasional turn to horror clichés was a little disappointing given the generally high level of intelligence and originality.
Still, interesting enough that I would give it another look now that I understand what its getting at, and gorgeous enough that I'll still enjoy it, even if I'm once again left with mixed feelings about some of the content.
Mention also must be made of the arresting performance by Ville Virtanen as the violent Eerik, recalling Max Von Sydow in his prime.
It's full of atmosphere, symbolism, and unanswered questions. Two Swedish brothers/soldiers -- one intellectual, the other violent and borderline mad -- come to a strange town where they are confronted with eerie reminders of their sins, and of those they have killed in war.
Slow paced, but not boring. However, the underlying ideas do get stretched a bit thin over time, and the occasional turn to horror clichés was a little disappointing given the generally high level of intelligence and originality.
Still, interesting enough that I would give it another look now that I understand what its getting at, and gorgeous enough that I'll still enjoy it, even if I'm once again left with mixed feelings about some of the content.
Mention also must be made of the arresting performance by Ville Virtanen as the violent Eerik, recalling Max Von Sydow in his prime.