It all seems so idyllic at first and sensible, too. Mother of four Maria Gros Vatne narrates the opening minutes of “A New Kind of Wilderness” as the documentary shows videos and still photographs of her husband and kids romping through Norway’s unassuming fields, streams, and woods. “We want to be independent, free, and full of love,” she says on top of pictures of her children tending gardens and livestock, which stand in stark contrast to the subsequent images showing Maria dealing with her cancer.
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“Wilderness” switches to a verité presentation from here as it follows Maria’s spouse, Nik Payne, who struggles to care for the three kids still residing on their farm (the fourth, Ronja, lives with her bio dad elsewhere). Maria passed away sometime between the opening minutes and what follows, and Nik mentions that he’s trying to honor her wishes to keep the kids homeschooled and living more or less off the grid, “independent” and “free.” The family’s financial situation makes this difficult, however, as the income keeping the family afloat went away with Maria, and Nik can’t manage both the kids and a job necessary to raise them at the same time.
This isn’t just Nik’s story, though. “Wilderness” takes the time to explore the ways that the children are dealing with the loss of their mother, with each experiencing it and managing that process in different ways. Ronja, in particular, has a difficult time wrestling with her grief and her perceived responsibilities as an older sibling, and the doc does a great job allowing her and the rest of the family to explore these emotional spaces. The teenager isn’t just living apart from her family in the physical sense, but in an emotional one as well, and “Wilderness” finds a gentle, meaningful balance between her story and the rest of the family’s.
On the one hand, director Silje Evensmo Jacobsen should be commended for adhering to the verité sensibilities of the project, as “Wilderness” never comes across as curated or guided. Yet this does keep the doc from probing into the more interesting questions and considerations that sit just under the surface here, such as the fundamental “why” of all of this. Whether it is the family’s continued presence in Norway, the homeschooling, or just their lifestyle in general, Jacobsen and the film dance around any of the hard questions that might encroach on what is essentially a meditation on one family’s grief.
Nik mentions that he’s trying to adhere to his wife’s final wishes by keeping the kids out of school and in the countryside, but just what these wishes were and what the expectation was once Maria’s income died along with her are never explored. The absence of this knowledge keeps the audience guessing about how much of the featured struggle comes down to Nik’s own choices or those born out of guilt and grief, leaving the viewer spinning in an endless cycle of impossible despair. And while it is interesting for a time and reads as genuine, it only scratches the surface of what’s at play in ‘Wilderness.’
Indeed, Jacobsen seems content just skimming the surface of the drama on display and never probes what any of this means in a broader context. Maria wanted her family to be independent, free, and full of love, but is this even possible in today’s world without independent wealth or a broader community that can lend support? Was Maria being selfish to insist on this final, unrealistic wish (if that was indeed what she did), and at what point does Nik start listening to what his kids want rather than what he thinks to be suitable for them?
How does any parent, let alone a widower, manage this dilemma in a situation as precarious as Nik’s? “Wilderness” tees a lot of these discussions up yet never takes a swing at any of them: the closest being a chat Nik has about whether he’s considered dating again. It’s okay that Jacobsen and the documentary aren’t asking these questions, but no one else in Nik’s life is, either, and that’s a problem for the doc.
As an exploration of grief and the struggle of people/parents looking for ways to disconnect from the modern world, “A New Kind of Wilderness” is a genuine, thoughtful peek behind the verité curtain with few gimmicks or frills. And while one can understand why Jacobsen might not have wanted to push on the tougher questions for artistic or sympathetic reasons, it leaves the viewer aching in anticipation for answers to questions never even asked. [C]
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