Let's anticipate Cristian Mungiu's FJORD

https://i.ibb.co/My9m33QF/204424-2-scaled-1.webp

I watched it an hour ago, am conflicted about Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner.

I have seen wildly disparate reactions from critics I trust. some loved it, some were appalled

Justin Chang's take is nuanced: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-current-cinema/fjord-keeps-the-faith

idk Mungiu's other films have depicted the consequences of religious fervor before; he seems to be saying in this one that bureaucratic fervor is as heinous, except that he's clear about believing the families are essentially good people. Otto Preminger excelled at this kind of evenhanded presentation of dilemmas, but Mungiu imo omits a couple of key scenes that might have mitigated how much of a tract it plays like.

*** very mild spoiler ***

Whatever measure of contempt the film harbors toward its minor characters, it reserves perhaps even harsher judgment for its protagonists. Few directors are better than Mungiu at capturing the non-wisdom of crowds, and every glimpse of the Gheorghius in communion with other Christians throws off an air of mass-smiling menace. Their right to practice their religion is as incontestable, in Mungiu’s view, as his right to despise it is.

Chang describes this well, I think. That's how most such scenes seem to me, at least as they exist in fading memories.

My own review.

Cool.

whatever wrong this Norwegian coastal village is doing administratively it nevertheless has produced courteous children.

Yeah, the kids' relative indifference to events is quite striking, isn't it! Almost spooky. Together with the ambiguousness around the parents' infractions in the first place, it suddenly reminds me of something else I read.

<searches>

It was the following, from the The Guardian. Might we put aside the sketchy evidence supporting the intervention and its consequences, and considerations of who is right and wrong, and focus more on the basic nature of systems (all of them) and, er, cognition itself?

My own sense is that Fjord is a film about whether a system convinced of its own good intentions can imagine being wrong. It’s the same reflex found in churches, homes and government offices from Oslo to Bucharest and across the polarised world we live in – the certainty that one’s side only ever needs vindication, never correction.

a system convinced of its own good intentions can imagine being wrong

uh, systems have mechanisms, rules, procedures, protocols, but not convictions or imagination. because humans are fallible and humans operate the system, those mechanisms, rules, procedures, and protocols should include avenues for self-correction of mistakes. if not, that can and should be addressed.