Full disclosure. I didn’t know what this film was about. One of my other screenings fell through so I jumped at the chance to see a documentary set in Norway about a family who lives off the grid until something happens. That’s all I knew, and it was enough for me to go into the theatre.
And then this other worldly family appears on the screen. Small, cherubic children foraging in a verdant Norwegian forest, literally hugging trees. A gorgeous father, Nik Vatne lifting babies with one arm while wielding an axe in another. His beautiful, photographer wife, Maria Vatne who narrates in the beginning about her love of nature and why she and her husband, decided to buy a farm, homeschool the kids and grow their own food. It’s a brave journey for anyone to take on. And they seem to understand the risk is worth the reward. The children are free, unburdened by traffic, television and technology.
And then the unthinkable happens. Maria gets cancer and dies.
As a mom of young children, watching this film, it was hard not to put myself in those shoes. Hard not to imagine the fragility of my own life. Illness can befall anyone at any time. How does a family go on when the roots of its existence are pulled from the ground?
The film was directed by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, and it was not the film she intended to make. What began as a film about a family who abandons social norms and lives off the grid became a study of grief, and the shifting winds of family dynamics when a seismic loss occurs. It seemed that nature absorbed so much of their pain in the beginning. Walks in the forest, talks by a campfire, the simplicity of a sun set.
But as the children grew and the farm was sold, school was introduced and they adapted, even though their mom left a gaping hole. Her spirit was always with them. Her presence was throughout the film and the director said the family was so proud of the movie and knew their mom would be as well.
As time goes on, life goes on. And it’s beautiful.
