The classic recipe for conflict: Place the hero into a BAD context; he overcomes the obstacles by taking GOOD decisions and actions; the GOOD prevails, EVIL fails, The End. The problem with that approach is the burden to portray the good and the bad. The easy path of drawing the Little Mermaid skinny and pretty, and Ursula fat and ugly, works only for some, and most of them children. Mungiu's solution is a cop-out - forget the good, just antagonize two bads. "Fjord" is literally that - a deep divide between two irrational worlds, fighting over, and in the process crippling, the innocent. While not exactly the extreme left and right, the two protagonists excel in their blind, unquestioning adherence to their respective collectives. Both sides are cleverly portrayed as good looking and well meaning, putting the viewer in the uncomfortable, but challenging position to choose between the two evils. Fjord makes no attempt to hide the ugliness behind their apparent beauty, making it relatively easy to identify the bad, and thus the choice more difficult. There is no violence in the movie, and yet violence is omnipresent in the background of every scene and dialog line. Guided, or rather led, by non-objective standards, the antagonists politely fight with words that fail to mean much, both aware of, and ultimately counting on, the might of the collective behind them. Mungiu doesn't pretend to offer a moral pronouncement, let alone a solution. Rationality is just not an option. He is content to present a conflict that he perceives to be naturally occurring in society. Humans are depicted as insignificant creatures fighting petty fights amongst themselves, trapped by both their flawed nature as well as the majestic, immovable mountains surrounding them.
In the end, Fjord gets a thumbs-up from me. And an "innocent slap on the butt" for its failure to take a stand.
