A New Kind Of Wilderness – Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 23 minutes, Director – Silje Evensmo Jacobsen

A family living in the Norwegian wilderness face the prospect of having to integrate with modern society after one of the parents passes away.

Whilst driving past a school one of Nik Payne’s kids looks out the window and refers to it as a prison. She, alongside her siblings, has been brought up largely away from society, although still having some contact with it, on the edges of the Norwegian wilderness. To be free, learn from the elements and be taught at home. It’s a life that’s suited them and for years the family have harmoniously been in touch with the world around them and have loved their lives away from the rest of the world.

However, after the loss of Nik’s wife Maria to cervical cancer there’s a struggle to bring money in, Maria seemed to be the main breadwinner with her photography work and website depicting the family’s woodland life. It leads to the possibility that the family may have to integrate with modern society, with the likelihood of three young kids being put into the school system.

From here Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s documentary brings to mind feelings of Captain Fantastic and Leave No Trace. However, in this case there’s a strong passion from the kids for staying with their current lives. They, alongside their father, try to maintain what they know as much as possible, they’re consistently vocal in what they want – amongst open discussions about grief in the wake of their loss.

There are already connections to the outside world. Older step-sister Ronja has been living, more comfortably from her perspective, with her father from Maria’s previous relationship for a number of years. In a key moment defining the conflicted nature of the family which grows as their possible entry into wider society grows more likely she leaves an emotional and honest letter to her younger sister about the life that she wants differing from the state of where her siblings are at. Even by this point there have already been sacrifices made, and Nik is looking for ways in which there can still be a connection with the outside world beyond a simple garden.

The gradual development and look for balance and compromise makes for an intriguing and engaging sense of confliction and uncertainty within the family. Tinged with the emotion of grief which continues to hang over throughout the short run-time. But, letting go and moving on can be different things, and they can have different degrees and extremes. These are quietly and naturally explored in the background as the core decisions, searches and conversations of the family take shape, having a strong and engaging effect on these core strands and focuses. A New Kind Of Wilderness keeps itself simple, but says a good deal with what it chooses to focus on and holds naturally in the background.

A simple yet layered look at grief, confliction and compromise which fuels the development of the central family with quiet emotional details naturally working in the background to push what’s being observed at the fore.