A 25 year war between
Finland and Russia is over
The new border was to be marked
by two separate commissions
The first commission headed North
Their mission was to meet up with
the other commission far North -
by the Kiertm River
They never
made it there
Border Agreement
...we can be forgiven...
Seventy-three.
Seventy-three what?
He had an axe stashed!
That's what this peace
fucking does!
Handmaiden to the Russkies!
I'll kill him again.
He would have taken you out next.
There are people coming.
from the direction of Kaatamo.
I saw fires up on the hills.
Go tell the men on the shore
we're in a hurry.
Knut!
I locked the girl in the cellar.
I'll take care of her.
I'll let her out. goddamnit.
Now go to the shore!
Once there was a king who wanted to
build a new capital for his kingdom.
His architect asked him what
he wanted for building material.
The king suggested gold.
But the architect said there wasn't
enough gold in the world.
And told him that they should
build the king's new city of -
filth.
The King was stunned.
He asked. what is filth?
The architect answered -
that filth is the mark
that is left -
when two things touch
on each other.
It's the very proof that the things
have touched one and other.
And so in fact filth
is the material -
that all our memories are made of.
The king admitted that he had
never heard of such -
a unique and fine material.
And so he gave
the architect permission -
to build the city as he saw fit.
So the architect began his work.
- What was the name of the city?
What was your hometown?
Bandits! An ambush!
There are no Lithuanians
this far north.
These are something much worse.
Shall we proceed?
- You gentlemen are early.
Didn't your new citizens give you
a warm enough welcome? - Shut up.
Are your peasants ready?
Peasant Ondrei Suurinen?
Do your swear on your poor soul...
Do you swear...
Come back...
...to pledge your soul
to this boundary mark -
so that the rulers of Sweden
and Russia can trust your oath?
Give it.
Let's move. We have to stop at the
edge of the big swamp anyway.
Something chasing you?
- Homesickness. What about you?
Semensky wants to find
a plant or animal -
that would be named after him.
I promised to take a look at
his catch for the day.
Don't get too friendly
with Semensky.
He's more dangerous than he looks.
Russian tea. Taste it.
They're offering me a post
at the University of Stockholm.
Are you angry?
- Are you?
Because I brought you here?
For nothing.
If you're still planning
to return to Sweden.
If I want to get that
geography professor's post -
I need something new to show.
The only uncharted place
in this country is right here.
After this journey I can present
a map to His Majesty -
of the entire kingdom
that God has placed him to rule.
It takes about two days
to cross the big swamp.
Captain Musko says that he has
never seen maps as beautiful -
as the ones by the younger Spore.
We know that this swamp
is unpopulated.
I suggest
we mark the border to cross -
through the middle of the swamp.
And we just go around it.
We have clear orders -
to mark the border in the ground
one mile apart as per the decree.
Does it really matter out here?
If you're in such a hurry to get
back to your estate to degenerate -
shall we just agree that the swamp
belongs to Sweden?
And mark it together
from the eastern side?
Even Semensky understood
that he has to -
get his fancy boots a little dirty.
Suits us fine.
If the men from Kaatamo
are after us -
they will follow the horses
around the swamp.
Take the horses and supplies
to wait for us at Pivkivi.
We'll meet within two days' time.
Come back...
God damn! I used to be
perfectly at home everywhere.
Until you brought those
fucking glasses from Stockholm.
You don't have to wear them.
Too late for hindsight.
My self-reliance is gone.
If I didn't hear your voice.
I couldn't even tell it was you.
It's me.
The father lives alone
with his daughter?
Wonder what happened to the wife?
What used to be on the rack?
- Can't remember.
The people here must be excited?
The village has been
taken back from the Russkies.
All that war wasn't for nothing.
- Yes.
Our host may not remember. but
I figured out what this rack is for.
Religion is everyone's own business.
But the interest of the State isn't.
What else have you hidden
besides the icons?
We have nothing else left.
Erik. if this is all they have... - I
know these half-Karelian bastards.
And their total lack of gratitude.
No!
Ever since I was 16.
I've been fighting this war -
which has been called off
as too gruesome.
So I swear. your girl wouldn't be
the most innocent victim of mine.
Where are your winter supplies?
Here?
You're lying.
You'll get a receipt for the food
the commission has impounded.
If you have such rights. they were
given to you by the Devil himself.
See if there's anything else.
Why must the girl stay here?
You served us food a man wouldn't
even touch with his ass.
I apologize to you gentlemen.
- We're not gentlemen.
Luckily we know how
to take what is ours.
The assignment that brought us to
your home has been a long one.
All the men are tired and hungry.
Everybody is waiting
for this to be over.
All far away from home.
No one as far away as I am.
Right.
My brother is in an unpredictable
mood. You'd better stay here.
No! Don't!
Don't leave me here! Come back!
You don't like water? You always
carry the sword when nearing water.
I doubt anyone likes water.
You and your brother
were born in Finland?
Ever seen a flower like this?
Sauna flower. very common.
Come back...
Fire. Doesn't it also purge?
Almost anything.
What if Hell isn't a raging bonfire
under the earth?
What if it's just an unclean place
where God is absent.
A place and time behind God's back.
Stomach trouble?
I'm going.
- No. wait.
Let's go already!
Is that a human standing there?
I can't see that far.
I saw that farmer's daughter...
I think.
She's following us.
- That's not possible.
What did she say when she got out?
- Nothing at all.
Forget about them. No need
to feel sorry for those turncoats.
We have been wandering for
two days now. Are we lost?
The compass doesn't lie.
Maybe you people should've
waged war a little longer.
If you object to this border...
- Master Spore...
We would hardly mind.
You could've given
all of Russia to Sweden.
Then you'd finally have
church services -
that don't resemble
a cheap carnival.
Captain Musko!
- Oh. so he understands?
It did have eyes.
Scar tissue.
Look at its paws.
Why would any dog claw
its own eyes out?
The Captain is pissed -
since he never got to
prove his manliness in the war.
Oh. fear not. Even during peace
you get to gay around -
as long as you find
the right company.
But let me remind you that my
brother is not of that kind.
Captain Musko! Calm down!
Cavalry Master Spore -
those glasses almost make you
seem like a civilized man.
In truth you are an invalid
who has lived way too long.
You are afraid of the peace
because it will take away -
your entitlement to all of
your murderous acts.
If we continue eastward.
we'll arrive at Pivkivi...
When I get home to my woman. I'll
keep the door locked for a week -
and won't open even if
God himself comes knocking.
Are you all right?
What did you say to Musko? - I saw
that girl. She stood this close!
What did she say when she got out?
- You're seeing things.
It's not the same girl.
I never went back there.
I never let that girl out.
We have to turn back.
We need to let her out.
We're almost at our destination.
The Russkies would hardly agree
to turning back.
As soon as we get the horses
from Pivkivi. I'll turn back.
Before making that mistake.
pull yourself together.
Who built it?
It just stands there alone.
Glasses.
Who's in charge here?
- Father.
Go get him.
So the war still continues
in the south?
The war was long.
but now it's over.
We belong to the Royal Border
Commission of the Russian Emperor -
and the King of Sweden.
- What's the name of this place?
There's no record of a village on
the northern edge of the swamp.
We are not on the northern edge.
We're in the middle.
In the dead center of the swamp.
What's that?
A map.
It shows how God sees the Earth.
And that?
- A border roll.
Information on the villages by
the border. on taxes and such.
Why?
So we know if we are
Swedes or Russians.
Is the world big?
- Big enough.
I haven't been there. Only here.
Goddamnit. boy!
- These need to be washed.
On whose orders?
- They're dirty.
Erik!
Strange boy.
- Not for this village.
Have you ever seen
peasants this clean?
We can get food here
for the journey back.
I'm not leaving the Russkies now.
This village is a crucial point
for the border.
There will be new wars.
- This dirty war was mine.
All those lives were lost
for nothing -
if we give away territories
to Russia at this point.
Marking the border is not about
redeeming lost lives.
You are thinking about the lands
we were promised as a reward.
Damn... fuck...
Semensky was right. I am half blind.
Way too old to practice
the one profession that I know.
I want to be a better father
than ours was.
I will get some land for my family.
This is my last chance.
Seventy-three.
I have done much worse things
than leaving some girl in a cellar.
Not all of us have.
- You can turn back. Right now.
Will you sign the border agreement
for me?
Knut...
The first thing you learn when
working for the King is to forget.
To forget?
You killed the girl's father.
I was defending my life. And yours.
You saw that axe.
No. I didn't.
You have always studied in peace
far away from all this.
But meanwhile
here in your homeland -
we woke up to war every morning.
Now that you're finally here -
Bear this task
honorably with me to the end.
I promise I will not let
anything bad happen to you.
Mother?
Ivan! Semensky sent me to find you.
We have food.
You've been paying taxes to Kajaani?
- Or Solovetsky?
No one ever came asking.
But you people are Christians?
Are you followers of Luther -
or do you belong
to the Russian Church?
Well. since we don't have a church -
we don't have a priest
to decide that.
Who does the sauna belong to?
Who built it? - Fuck the sauna.
Swedes or Russians?!
Maybe it is easier
if you gentlemen decide.
You gave orders to mark down
how many villagers live here.
Seventy-three people.
Including children. women.
the old ones and all.
An awful lot of people.
Where are all the other children?
- I'm the only one.
Sit down.
Sit down!
If you can tell us
how long you've had this village -
and where you originally came from -
I'll make you an official
border man of our commission.
We'll draft an appointment letter.
As official as it gets.
I don't know.
But if you promise to take me along
when you leave... - Hell. yes.
I know where there are some
papers like that.
In there?
Go home before someone finds out.
It's in Russian.
It would be important to know
what's written here.
More importantly. Semensky mustn't
find out. Get the Village Elder.
I couldn't find the Village Elder.
- Well. Roukkula. whose are these?
Never seen them before.
Are you out there?
Let me out and I'll tell you.
It's getting dark. You'll be
stuck there all night. old man.
We didn't do anything to them. - Did
Russian monks build this village?
We found these houses empty.
Didn't come across any people.
All that was left were the monks'
robes. scattered all around.
Some thought that they had
just abandoned their faith.
Others said that someone
had taken them away.
Who did the people think
had taken the monks away?
Tell me.
Whisper it and you'll get out.
It's me.
Don't come too close.
Too late for hindsight.
This will end badly for us -
just because you left
that girl in the cellar.
Why did you lock her up?
To protect her. From you.
Oh. it was me who lusted after
that titless scrag?
You were the one imagining -
how it would feel to rape a young.
innocent thing like that.
That's the ugly truth the young
professor wanted to lock away.
Is it really wise to go back
and let a thought like that out?
Have you seen our girl around?
- That boy is a girl?
She doesn't have anyone
to play with -
so she sometimes
pretends to be a boy.
Semensky?
Captain?
It is perfect. Save your souls.
I found this book in our cabin.
I don't know if it's important.
It's in Russian.
I understand.
I will let you know.
Because no other solution
can be found -
we have decided that the border will
run straight through the village.
The sauna will be the official
boundary mark.
We shall carve our coats of arms
on its walls.
Come with me.
Only the leaders.
In our old village the soldiers
came from both sides.
Did their plundering.
and even worse.
So you found your peace in
the heart of the swamp?
No. We found something else.
Ever since the day we got here -
not one of us has really
dared to live.
Or to die.
Our girl was born
on the journey over.
She is the last child
born to our village.
I still don't quite understand.
- Superstition.
Finns like to bathe their newborns
in the sauna. And their dead.
There you can wash away the past -
and the sins you have committed.
Roukkula dug his eyes out.
- Why?
Before that he had chewed
his tongue into shreds.
Knut has found Rogosin. Dead.
Musko says that Rogosin used
his own blood as ink.
What do these say?
Rogosin seems to think
he's locked in a cellar.
Like a small child.
There's food in the cellar.
even something to drink.
But Rogosin drinks his own blood.
because he's afraid...
What is he afraid of?
There is someone with him
in the cellar.
Rogosin is afraid that this someone
will turn to face him.
That's that.
On this site there used to be
a monastery of the Russian Church.
More surprisingly. the sauna was
possibly here even before that.
The monks found it and built
their monastery next to it.
Something made them believe
that in this very sauna -
a man could wash
all his sins away.
Without asking for forgiveness.
Without prayers.
One of the monks writes:
"Maybe it is not a sauna -
but only appears to be one because
we can't comprehend what it is."
Why are people afraid of it?
The sauna?
Those pieces of glass on your nose.
what is their purpose?
They help me see better.
The light reflects.
Like in the water.
So my brother says.
My little brother.
He has always been the only
glimpse of light in our family.
Then you must take care of him.
Because darkness doesn't reflect.
It absorbs.
Our family is a small one.
My brother would have
made a better leader for it.
More suited for what still needs
to be done in this country.
Or so I hoped.
Now all I ask is that I get him
back to Sweden alive.
Anything you could do to this?
The best place to mend a wound
is where you got it from.
All you needed to do
was to turn back.
Is it too late now?
Ivan's mother was from Karelia.
like mine.
Hindrance to the career.
Little Ivan was no older than ten
when he denounced his mother.
She became the first witch -
to be burned alive at the
Vyborg market square.
All Ivan ever cared for
was the interest of the State.
Bring it on then.
Erik Spore is here.
I know how many you are.
I've counted each and every one.
I'm not that stupid!
On the last day I will be
pulled to the depths.
But not yet!
I can save somebody. too!
Bring it on! Bring it all on!
I am not like my brother.
I know what's illusion
and what's real.
Where have you been?
I'll go back with you tomorrow.
We'll go and let that girl out.
I'll sort things out with Semensky
in the morning.
But Knut -
maybe it's all too late.
The exact number of all those
lives on my conscience...
We might have to count that girl in.
- Seventy-four.
That's right.
Is that Semensky's plant collection
you're sitting on?
The new specimens were still wet.
I promised to press them.
They'd damned better be ready
by tomorrow.
Border Agreement
I hope that the agreements
arrive at Pivkivi -
without you having changed
anything on them.
Cavalry Master Spore.
We both represent powers
that do not budge from their seats.
Sometimes they just let us change
their blood-drawn outlines -
when they get tired of
their old shape.
Then it's poor Rogosin's turn.
You talk about God and...
- No.
I speak about Sweden and Russia.
I guess it would be fair
if both parties -
took their half
of this hideous swamp.
But?
You have kept a book with facts
about the village hidden from us.
And for that reason we have marked
in the border agreement -
that the area belongs to you.
I believe that the Russian Empire is
a bigger place without these lands.
My brother keeps his signet ring
in his luggage.
I'll bring it. if I don't
find him in person.
Knut...
Seventy-five.
If that Swede doesn't
get here soon. we leave.
There's one part here
that bothers me.
I didn't read it to the Swedes.
Rogosin says he regrets that he
hadn't the courage to kill us all.
He says that tomorrow
it is too late.
Tomorrow we are supposed -
to see something
that even God can't bear to watch.
Tomorrow?
Rogosin wrote his will yesterday.
So tomorrow is today.
Don't look.
Be at ease. Vasily Yermolayevitch.
You are like a father to me.
And I'm grateful for all
that you have done.
But it's Knut Spore that I love -
and it is he whom I wish
to spend the eternity with.
And last night he asked me
to give him a present.
Something that I can regret
for the rest of my life.
He could not ask me for
a gift more valuable.
No!
Can you speak?
Have you seen my brother?
- He's not your brother anymore...
He's taking everyone with him.
- To the sauna?
Block all the windows.
I'll assign the whole swamp
to the Russians.
Like they assigned it to us
in their version.
I don't want anyone
to come here ever again.
The future
always has its back to us.
Only what we have done.
we can turn to face.
Only there we can be forgiven.
That's good.
Collect all the food you can find
and put it in that sack.
There's food there.
- Good.
Now find something warm to wear.
- But are you coming too. sir?
I'm no sir.
Keep heading north all the time.
Sooner or later you will have to
get out of the swamp.
On the north side of the swamp
you'll find a river.
Follow it east and you will see
a high peak. That's Pivkivi.
There are people waiting there.
Just give them
this whole bundle of shit.
They will take you
far away from here.
Erik...
The plan is to get you away
from here. That's why I can't come.
No. no...
I'll distract him.
My life can buy you time.
That's one hell of a deal.
When you're in the south.
go to St. Olav's Castle -
and ask for
the Cavalry Master's wife.
Tell my wife that -
you were promised a seat
from the table.
And the name of Spore.
For a good reason.
Say that in your eyes -
you bring home the last
look from her husband.
All the time. head north.
It's me.
Sit down.
No glasses. even?
I can see perfectly clearly here.
- As you should.
I want to show you something.
No. I apologize. but -
I don't want to see.
- Erik.
There's nothing to fear.
It's me.