A LIVING FORCE

This laconically reserved documentary portrays three men and their background, telling us about the contradictory mentalities in post-communist Estonia before its joining of the EU. Peeter and Georg are unemployed arts scholars; Arto is a young, ambitious public relations man, managing the election-campaign of a neo-liberal politician. Peeter, an intellectual in his prime, decided to go into freelance-journalism after a career as a literary critic, but cannot survive on his meagre assignments. “Literature is vanishing”, he complains between appointments at newspapers where he has to deal with younger editors. He disregards other means of employment – turning down a job as a substitute teacher. After a satirical opera based on his current situation flops, he indulges in self-pity. Georg, a studied historian, has tried his luck at numerous temp-jobs, but has developed a rather aristocratic work-philosophy, wondering if work sets you free or should be considered a form of slavery. He views his leisurely loafing not as laziness, but as revulsion of the demands of a commercialized world. Astute manager Arto, on the other hand, steels himself at the gym for the daily fight that is his existence. Ironic highlights of the film are Peeter’s and Georg’s job interviews, where they are asked to name their goals and motivations – only to answer with witty nihilistic phrases.