“Fjord” Forces Audiences to Question Their Own Beliefs

While there have been years of movies, books, and music written about how religious people can be judgmental, controlling, and stifle progress (and there is truth to some of it), there are times when the shoe is on the other foot. While I’m not going to get into Christians' "persecution complex" that seems to drive a lot of progressives crazy, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that if you are a progressive liberal, you might find a conservative with Christian values to be a little out of touch with your own. And (because Jesus warns us), those who have power are likely to abuse it against the weak. This is the central conflict in Fjord, in which a legal system with way too much freedom targets a family under the guise of one thing, but seems suspiciously concerned about something else entirely.

The Gheorghiu family are not your typical neighbors in this small town. Known primarily for its snowy scenery and avalanches, the wife (Renate Reinsve) is a native Norwegian who works at an elderly living facility. While she is known for being a kind woman, her Christian beliefs are scorned by many around her. It doesn’t help that her husband (Sebastian Stan) is Romanian and comes from a different culture altogether. The family doesn’t watch YouTube, play video games, or even use the internet. They do pray, read the Bible, and proselytize their beliefs to everyone around them, though. One woman even comments that she feels the children in the family are “brainwashed.”

Unfortunately for the Gheorghiu family, said woman works closely with Child Protective Services, and when she notices some bruises on two of the kids in gym class, she makes some calls, has the kids removed from the family, and a criminal investigation into the parents is opened. Never mind that there were tons of other kids in the gym who had bruises. Or the fact that in most situations like this, officials would go through multiple channels before taking extreme action. Heck, forget the fact that the bruises could have come from anywhere AND the kids even tell the social workers that the bruises were their fault! Because the kids admitted that their parents spanked them when they were younger, Child Protective Services decides on extreme action, takes the kids away, and sends them to three different foster homes.

Now, after reading all that, let me ask you this: does this seem like a general concern about the kids' safety, or does it seem like persecution of a family who has beliefs that veer wildly from the town (the family, it appears, is the only one on the block to even celebrate Christmas)? The irony is, the representatives of Child Protective Services are very shrewd. They answer questions with such legal language you’d swear they made a career out of avoiding answering tough questions. When the father asks a lawyer if they need proof before removing their kids, the lawyer bluntly tells him, “No, not when children are involved.” Alright, so they want to verify that the kids are safe. How long could it take to make that decision?

Apparently, it can take months before a hearing is even scheduled, and Child Protective Services don’t seem particularly interested in any alternative explanation for how the kids could have received the bruises. So confident is their belief that when the parents hug the kids, the lady overseeing the case looks at the family and seems to wonder why the family is showing affection for one another. As you might expect, this eventually turns into a legal drama where the prosecutors seem more interested in questioning the parents about their religious beliefs rather than providing evidence of abuse, and it is here that we in the audience have our suspicions confirmed that this trial may not exactly be about child safety. I mean, what do you make of a trial where the prosecution spends more time questioning cultural upbringing for why the kids should be removed rather than presenting evidence of abuse?

The film essentially balances three stories all into one: a family unfairly singled out for their differences, a town that is suspicious of the family for having different beliefs, and a government organization that has way more power than it should. I should probably take this moment to state that while I understand why Child Protective Services exist in the first place, I am personally not a fan because they wield way too much power and can make families' lives miserable with very little evidence. Even in America, there is little legal recourse when a family is wrongly accused of child abuse, even when, on the surface, the claims are so flimsy you wonder why anyone took the complaints seriously in the first place.

Once you throw religion into the mix… forget it; things get ugly fast. Fjord is loosely based on the real-life story of the Bodnariu family, who went through a very similar situation that garnered international attention. While names have been changed (and a few things, I suspect, heightened for dramatic purposes), the story is a universal one. While it is true that people in religious power have done harm when given power, there can be no denying that, with the roles reversed, those who have no religious beliefs have wielded their influence improperly as well. The ending is one of the most devastating endings I’ve seen this year.

While I intellectually acknowledge why things couldn’t have gone any other way, I still wished that there was another conclusion that could have come of everything. What will make Fjord such a revelation for most audiences is that I have no doubt many people who watch it won’t be religious. Many will even have the belief that religious people are stupid. But those people are also likely to understand the importance of freedom and to be free to choose to believe in whatever you want, and they may find that they have to choose between their personal beliefs and what is right in this situation (because make no mistake: the film makes it clear the parents did nothing wrong). In a politically divided nation, are we ready to have that conversation? Who knows, but I suspect Fjord is a good starting point if we are to.