Families Like Ours (Familier som vores) is a Danish drama directed by Thomas Vinterberg and written by Bo Hr. Hansen and Thomas Vinterberg. Within the collection, the folks of Denmark get up sooner or later to study that their nation is shutting down, and the world won’t ever be the identical. Rising waters will quickly render the nation unlivable, forcing the mass relocation of its whole inhabitants.
However what does somebody do with practically six million individuals who will quickly be and not using a dwelling? That’s the query that Laura (Amaryllis April Maltha August) and her household should wrestle with as they attempt to cling to one another, regardless of the merciless decisions the world presses on them.
There are two key components that Families Like Ours is constructed on. The primary is realism. Regardless of the pure catastrophe vitality of the collection, it by no means wavers from telling a grounded story. With the issue of rising tides looming, the evacuation started earlier than the ocean had begun to encroach on residential areas. This enables the collection to give attention to how the folks deal with the dramatic shift of their lives, slightly than contending with the catastrophe itself.
As Families Like Ours follows the core forged past their homeland, the issues they encounter by no means really feel exaggerated. That is true in each their severity and their frequency. As refugees in lands the place they don’t seem to be wholly welcome, they face many of the sorts of threats you’d anticipate. Issues escalate when, as a way to save those that discover themselves in robust areas, characters proceed to interrupt extra guidelines out of desperation.
The stability between realism and nuance crafts a compelling narrative in Families Like Ours.
Nevertheless, Families Like Ours doesn’t paint practically as bleak a picture because it may. Whereas some are keen to harm and take benefit of these at their lowest level, many fortunately assist them. Giant and small acts of kindness alike shine once they arrive, making the collection really feel like a common take a look at what may occur on this state of affairs and never simply an try and make as miserable a seven-episode miniseries as doable.
The opposite component that enables Families Like Ours to create a deep, considerate narrative is how strongly it embraces nuance. Many acts all through the collection might be known as questionable, however they continuously come from a spot of want. The presentation does an amazing job of delivering these facets of the story to the viewer impartially, permitting them to make their judgment.
This focus is one of the primary components of the plot that opens the story. Nikolaj (Esben Smed) works for the federal government and learns of the approaching shutdown within the opening moments of the present. He and his associate shortly start promoting belongings and advocate that their brother-in-law do the identical.
Insider buying and selling is morally doubtful beneath the perfect of circumstances, however promoting belongings low cost so others will spend their cash simply earlier than the complete nation crashes round them is terrible. Nevertheless, this clearly isn’t an act of callousness, simply desperation. Seeing how issues crumble beneath everybody as money reserves dry up and Danish cash loses worth, the collection challenges the viewers to reply whether or not they would act in another way to care for his or her family members.
Each of these storytelling pillars enrich the focus of narrative: household. How the assorted households within the present work together, take care of one another, and fail one another at all times feels dynamic and highly effective. Household typically falls quick whenever you anticipate them to return by way of, and others stroll away when it feels not possible for them to take action. And typically, the worst outcomes are born of the noblest intentions.
Household at all times stays central, exhibiting how they arrive collectively and crumble in instances of disaster.
The collection’s willingness to embrace silence helps construct up the ever-present looming catastrophe. Textual content messaging is continuously proven in white textual content on a black display, making a singular give attention to what’s being written. These moments go silent quite a few instances as somebody sends out a determined message and anxiously awaits a response that doesn’t at all times come. The quiet in these moments is deafening.
All of the drama that fuels Families Like Ours is fabulously executed. Onerous moments can breathe, with the bigger narrative by no means stalling for too lengthy. The collection’s mix of the non-public and the worldwide permits it to maintain the story attention-grabbing even because it strikes at its personal tempo.
The one place the place this glorious pacing falters is within the last episode. Because the present attracts its final narrative strands collectively, it feels prefer it wants a minimum of yet one more episode to do the various plot traces justice. Because it stands, the place it will get to is nice, nevertheless it may have executed the ultimate leg of the journey higher.
Families Like Ours delivers a dramatic and grounded narrative. Its measured pacing provides moments to breathe and audiences time to grapple with the ethical implications of the actions that play out earlier than them. Its nuanced story and imperfect characters go away a long-lasting impression of humanity at its finest and worst.
Families Like Ours is streaming now on Netflix.
Families Like Ours
8/10
TL:DR
Families Like Ours delivers a dramatic and grounded narrative. Its measured pacing provides moments to breathe and audiences time to grapple with the ethical implications of the actions that play out earlier than them.
