TORONTO – In the legal family drama "Fjord," the constant threat of avalanches looms over a Norwegian town surrounded by mountains. Yet it's the conflicting belief systems among its residents that's the biggest cause of friction and chaos.
Written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, "Fjord" (in theaters Oct. 9) won the prestigious Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, had a splashy premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and is on target for a best picture nomination at the upcoming Academy Awards. And while this early Oscar contender centers on a Romanian-Norwegian couple, the battle between liberal and conservative values it presents can relate to a wide swath of people.
"I realized that we live in a very polarized
and radicalized world, separated in groups of people with very, very different beliefs," Mungiu said during a TIFF post-screening Q&A. "There's no dialogue between these groups, and this is how we ended up having this kind of hatred."
IT engineer Mihai Gheorghiu (Sebastian Stan) and his wife, hospice nurse Lisbet (Renate Reinsve), move their family from his homeland of Romania to hers, though some of their new Norwegian neighbors and fellow locals don't totally agree with the Gheorghius' strict religious upbringing they've chosen for their children. When the parents are suspected of child abuse, Norway's powerful child protection services gets involved and takes the five kids away, including a baby, and kicks off a long and contentious legal process that takes a toll on Mihai and Lisbet.
While "Fjord" is inspired by a real-life case from 2015 involving a Norwegian family, Mungiu saw a pattern all around the world where "a family of migrants with different values" were faced with similar circumstances. And the Romanian director said he was particularly "curious" to explore a scenario where conservatives were the minority in a country where the progressive side is in control.
"Because you'd expect that majority to behave differently if they are more educated, smarter and sharing more modern values," Mungiu says. "But it's not that simple. The majority has this tendency of acting as a majority, which means they expect the others to conform to the social norms."
Mungiu wants people to keep an open mind when they see "Fjord." He recalled that when the film had its world premiere at Cannes in May, "everybody had an opinion about what happened in the film before watching the film. This is a little bit about what the film is about," he added with a chuckle. Some are so certain of their point of view that "not only that will you not have the patience to listen to the other, but you don't even listen to the theme of the conversation."
In making the movie, Mungiu takes the role of a "motivator" in presenting honestly the conflictive perspectives and "it's for the audience to have to judge later on: What is the solution for this?
"This is why I made this film, because its the conversation we need to have before before it’s too late and an avalanche comes and covers us."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oscar hopeful 'Fjord' puts fiery clash of values on display
