When you think back on this first scene, of a neighbour complaining about a pile of dog poop on their icy Swedish lawn, everything comes into perspective. This is a movie about contrasts. Life in occupied Estonia, versus free Sweden and Finland. Between what each person deems to be the biggest struggles of life. Between friends. Between desires and reality.
Directed by Jaak Kilmi, The Dissidents is a rather upbeat flick because, while it does confront troubling topics, it cushions them with comical failures and misunderstandings. It stars three young men—Ralf Tamm (Märt Pius), Mario Viik (Karl-Andreas Kalmet), and Einar Kotkin (Veiko Porkanen)—who make money in 1980s Tallinn by surreptitiously selling contraband items from beyond the Iron Curtain to Estonians.
