A fjord of horror in Kypseli

Norwegian fjords can reach depths of 1,000 meters and stretch for several kilometers. More than 100 of them dot the country’s coastline, carved by glaciers over millions of years. Against that beautiful landscape, Cristian Mungiu places a deeply unsettling story.

“Fjord” follows the Georgiu family, a Romanian family of seven who move to a small provincial town where everyone knows one another. Deeply religious, they try to adapt to the liberal habits and values of their new country. Mobile phones and the internet are banned at home. The family prays every day and reads the Bible, while children face a points system and punishment if they appear disobedient.

At school, religious expression is forbidden. The children’s new friends cannot understand the restrictions imposed on their foreign classmates, but daily life continues through tolerance and knowing looks. Then, one day, child-protection officials arrive at the Georgius’ home instead of the school bus. The children do not return. Communication is cut off and a protection protocol begins after bruises on one sibling’s body raise the alarm at school.

Before the family fully understands what is happening, the children have been placed with foster families and their father is being questioned. Mungiu sets two systems of belief against each other: the conservative patriarchal culture that excuses “innocent” beatings and slaps, and a bureaucratic system that claims moral superiority while sweeping aside opposing views.

The two beliefs remain in conflict until the film’s ending, which leaves every possibility open. Seen shortly before schools reopen, and while the horror in Kypseli is unfolding, the article draws lines between the film and questions about how child-protection authorities might respond to two children in that case. In “Fjord,” the system acts on suspicion alone. “But that happens in movies,” the article concludes.