Just saying, the Special Victims Unit would’ve had this case figured out so quick.
Written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, “Fjord” is a drama about a Romanian family who’ve recently relocated to Norway to be closer to family. Devout evangelical Christians, the family includes patriarch Mihai (Sebastian Stan), his wife Lisbet (Renate Reinsve) and their five children.
Things kick off normal enough as the family begins attending the local church, the kids start attending school and Mihai enters a new job. However, their strict religious lifestyle starts to rub people the wrong way. The family is then further scrutinized when school officials believe there’s physical abuse in the home, and child protective services remove the kids from the parents.
Mungiu’s latest cinematic effort gives audiences plenty to chew on when leaving a theater. It challenges western Democratic systems related to religious tolerance, secularism, child services and cultural shifts, all with a “ripped from the headlines” story. The concept itself, children taken out of a home and parents battling in court for custody, is ripe for drama.
It certainly makes for a good hook to draw an audience in, and with a pair of Academy Award nominees leading the way for the performances, it holds a viewer’s attention. It also regularly leads those watching to side with the family, which is impressive. The film plainly shows that the Gheorghius are strict, hard right Christians, to the point where they can be off-putting.
Yet the movie also shows them in positions where they’re often the underdog in a difficult situation. As a result, it can pull an audience to feel some sympathy toward the Gheorghius, who were inspired by a real family, and find some truth in their argument.
However, Mungiu’s approach with the film, while building intrigue, also runs into a fair share of problems. One of them is that the movie is severely lacking in nuance. Both through the performances and the dialogue, the picture is manipulative in its portrayal of the child care services and courtroom personnel.
The school staff and social workers are at times portrayed as unempathetic figures when intervening with the family, and in others as nearly robotic. In moments of legal procedings , meanwhile, the state prosecutors aren’t just pushing a case using evidence of possible abuse, but are shown as being openly antagonistic toward the family’s religion.
It comes across as manipulative, and fails in fully exploring a western country’s child protective and foster care systems. It’s true that these entities can have problems. But it also seems unfair to show them in this light, because it strips the movie of greater insight. While not in Norway, as a U.S. reporter, I regularly reported on foster care matters, particularly when they were impacted by the opioid crisis.
I am well aware the system is imperfect, and cultural or religious matters add to a complicated debate. However, the movie’s depiction is almost too black and white, specially with the state system. A greater balance definitely could have been struck here.
A better balance could have also been struck in where the film dedicated its time toward. This movie clocks in at nearly 2 hours and 30 minutes. However, despite that runtime, it hardly puts any amount toward a very important group: the kids. Despite being part of the catalyst moving the film forward, the picture doesn’t spend nearly enough time with the children in the case.
This is especially a problem because Mungiu appears to be trying to build an emotionally resonating aspect in the relationship between the Gheorghiu’s eldest daughter Elisa (Vanessa Ceban) and a neighbor girl, Noora (Henrikke Lund-Olsen). Yet these two are so sidelined for great deals of time that we as the audience aren’t able to appreciate that bond, or how the kids are coping with their removal for that matter.
It’s not that these headwinds completely take the power out of the movie overall, but they do end up limiting its quality. It’s the type of movie where a person walks away with plenty to think about, but aren’t quite given a complete portrait to ponder.
Mungiu and his crew, to their credit, do manage to make the film visually striking. The setting of “Fjord” alone is smart. A snowy, secluded town surrounded by mountains and the sea. The filmmaker takes full advantage, using it to show the isolation the family feels, and the muted aesthetic drives the hopelessness for the parents.
“Fjord” is an overall well-acted and nicely crafted film with a fascinating central premise that keeps an audience engaged. In doing so, some hot topics are touched on, giving it a meaningful social aspect. However, while it’s covered, it doesn’t feel like the topics are explored to the fullest extent. The movie also misses in how it handles its younger characters. As a result, it comes to a 3.4 out of 5.
Photos courtesy Neon
