Youth on the Wilderness

Sebastian and Paul are two boring 16-year-olds who drink, steal, and attend a private school together, feeling that life is meaningless during their adolescence. They kidnap Sonja and lock her in an old abandoned factory, but what will they do to her? Confusion, fear, desire, and love are turning into brutal acts of personal violation. This is a disturbing yet highly impactful debut film. The female director, Eva, had never directed a film before and had not attended film school. Yet, you cannot tell this from the film. The filming techniques are very mature; the director knows exactly how to shoot and how to use cinematic language to achieve the desired effects. The two teenagers meet and quickly become friends. They are caught shoplifting by a female employee at a supermarket and are thrown out. Vengeful, they follow the employee all the way to her home... Instantly, both the boys and the audience enter another world, much like Jeffrey does in 'Blue Velvet'. The line between victim and criminal, right and wrong, normal and abnormal begins to blur in this unsettling world of human nature. The film is quite disturbing due to its extremity, yet the story is very credible, and even the ending feels quite logical. The overall performance of the actors is also great.