The film starts with Sebastian at the cash register of a small grocery store. In comes a red-haired man (Silo) who asks for “pikad paberid” and pays in cash. When Sebastian exits the store through the back entrance later on, there he finds Silo loitering around near the garbage cans. Silo offers Sebastian a marijuana joint and Sebastian accepts, even though they are basically still strangers. They introduce themselves as “Silo” and “Sebastian” a minute or two later. Still strangers, but now knowing each other’s first names, Silo convinces Sebastian to show him how to use the cash register and they have fun making it ring several times. Would you allow a stranger to open and close a store’s cash register full of money? Probably not. But here we start to gather clues about Sebastian’s personality and perhaps his lack of good judgement.
Now, Silo convinces Sebastian to go to the beach together during work hours. After jumping into the freezing cold water, they decide that “Estonia is basically one big fridge,” and Silo starts to talk about Brazil, where “it’s always warm.” For some reason, these newly acquainted strangers decide that going to Brazil is a great idea! “We just need plane tickets and money.” they say. Apparently, neither has enough money for this type of adventure. Silo proposes that they combine their meager savings and buy kush (a strain of cannabis) to sell as drug dealers. And then Silo invites Sebastian to a rich kid’s house for a party where a number of younger people talk about their experiences with illegal drugs (DMT, acid). There, Sebastian meets Nora, a law student, with whom he starts to develop a relationship.
We soon learn more about Silo. Apparently, he’s gotten into trouble in the past and is currently trying to keep a low profile. At Silo’s urging, Sebastian quits his grocery store job on short notice. Being now unemployed and seemingly unmotivated, the Brazil trip becomes unrealistic for Sebastian. In the meanwhile, Silo has started to use Sebastian to help him sell illegal drugs on the street.
Through Sebastian’s conversations with Nora, we find out that Sebastian has a history of letting “opportunities slip away,” and that he never finished university. While Nora visits her father during the Christmas season, Sebastian does not have visible evidence of being connected with his own family.
Meanwhile, now that Sebastian cannot realistically move to Brazil with Silo, Silo has gone off to talk to a new girl, trying to convince her that she should move to Brazil, where the weather is warm and the beaches are beautiful.
So how does the movie end? I’d encourage you to find out for yourselves! I won’t be sharing any spoilers here.
“Before deciding, I’d encourage readers to pick up Dr. Laima Vincė Sruoginis’ book The Snake in the Vodka Bottle… Decide for yourself which characteristics may apply to Sebastian and Silo in the film…”
What do you make of this story? How realistic is it? Are both Silo and Sebastian naïve, happy-go-lucky individuals or is another scenario being played out here?
Before deciding, I’d encourage readers to pick up Dr. Laima Vincė Sruoginis’ book The Snake in the Vodka Bottle. Although chapter twenty-three of the book describes youth in post-Soviet Lithuania, the book has an excellent description of the general traits that organized crime looks for in naïve younger people. Decide for yourself which characteristics may apply to Sebastian and Silo in the film and what the story endings are likely to be before you watch it.
As outlined in Sruoginis’ book, future victims tend to come from poor or dysfunctional homes. An attractive stranger from the same community may approach the future victim and promise either a job abroad or a loving, secure relationship. The attractive stranger often infiltrates the family and gains their trust. Once the victim is convinced to go abroad, their passport is taken away and the individual is forced into prostitution or similar illegal activities. In a number of countries, it is well-recorded that local police are known to collaborate with organized crime.
Others have portrayed the movie as a “coming-of-age film…trying to figure out where you belong.” Perhaps Nora’s friendship with Sebastian will help him decide what to do with himself. It’s definitely worth thinking about.
