Puhdistus (Antti Jokinen, 2012)

Two Estonian women, one young and one old, meet and their traumatic stories are related, parallels becoming apparent between them. The parallels in question are all to do with their dehumanisation: for one, being turned into an informer on her family under the brutalisation of the Soviet regime, for the other being forced into prostitution.
Based on Sofi Oksanen's best-selling novel, Purge is of the school that holds that if you show true horrors in full, your art is irreproachable, regardless of whether there is actually any dramatic justification to stretch the point to two hours. It wallows in degradation, and it has to be said that Finnish filmmakers have a long-standing propensity for this. Hence, men feature as raping bastards, or fools at best, and the best that can be hoped for in existence is to be freed from pain. Meanwhile, noisome strings attempt to railroad the viewer into acknowledging the tragedy of it all. For all the film's serious intent and the strength of the acting by the two female leads, there is nothing to be learnt here.

4/10