Logo

What’s your favorite Finnish rugby documentary? If the question ever comes up, here is your answer: “Freetime Machos,” a bewitching and weirdly offbeat look at a medioce rugby team of quietly fierce men in a Nokia-centric town in Finland where coldly brutal games start with a rousing cry of, “Oh, s***!” The monologue that begins the film tells you so much about its dry, slightly absurdist take on manliness: “In northern Finland, men would rather be stabbed in the back than complain about woman trouble or say hello to an unknown neighbor. They seemed to have inherited the quiet and reserved gene…Here…If you go moose hunting, you shoot. If you are in the garage, you fix the car. You work for survival, not for fun. You live to get ready for life after death. In the bedroom, you sleep or copulate, not (gratify yourself) or have sex. You don’t linger in the toilet, and you empty your plate. You make the best of your job, whatever it is. Men did not cry. They weren’t ashamed, even though they failed in all of these.” Don’t miss this sharply observed film, which is showing again tomorrow night (tickets here).

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy