Review: 'Fjord,' about an outsider family clashing with the state, will test you

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Set us as preferred Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, still among the most prestigious prizes any movie can claim, “Fjord” aims for both a quiet, subtle power and the directness of a sledgehammer.It speaks to the skill of Romanian writer-director Cristian Mungiu, along with the star power and acting prowess of its leads, Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, that the film achieves those goals, creating a mix of feelings including ambivalence, shock and dismay over what people will do to one another in the name of a common good.Having recently moved from Bucharest to a remote village in Norway, a conservative, devoutly Christian couple and their five young children have begun to insert themselves into the fabric of their new community.

Mihai, the Romanian father (Stan), is a little intense and gloomy; Lisbet (Reinsve), a Norwegian, is shy but kind, and their focus seems clearly on what they see as a warm, loving homelife.But when their children are suddenly taken into protective custody over allegations of abuse, they find their world turned upside down.Eventually, the father asks a prosecutor with equal parts anger and exasperation, “Am I on trial for my beliefs?”The official answer to that question, more or less, is both no and yes.

The government’s position is that the children cannot be placed back into a home where they will be harmed, whether that means physical violence or indoctrination in ideology counter to that of the state’s, such as no dancing, no internet and that being gay is wrong.Movies Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Fjord’ follows a Romanian-Norwegian couple accused of abusing their children, placing clashing cultural values at the center of a courtroom drama.Based on actual events involving a Romanian family in Norway in 2015, “Fjord” is purposefully designed to make a...