Wild Horse Nine
Let’s begin by turning the clock back to the summer of 1973. That was when, as anyone versed in history knows, the country of Chile was enjoying having elected its first Marxist president, Salvador Allende. That feeling would not last long, as two American men – Chris (played by John Malkovich) and Lee (played by Sam Rockwell) – are well aware of. On what looks to be a vacation to Rapa Nui, a Chilean-controlled island they keep getting told is the “indigenous” name of what Chris insists on calling Easter Island, the two men bicker like an old married couple. Only gradually, as they tour the island and its many stone “big heads” – and deal both with their CIA superior (played by Steve Buscemi), a pair of young Chilean women and the occasional wild horse – do we discover what is really going on. And while that back story may at times feel a bit farfetched, the political messaging and acting by both Malkovich and Rockwell – but especially Malkovich – make Wild Horse Nine into a touching portrayal of love and loyalty between two characters we have no reason otherwise to empathize with.
Fjord
Let’s now turn to another study of loss, this one involving a Romanian couple having trouble adjusting to life after having emigrating to Norway. Mihail (played by Sebastian Stan) and Lisbet (played by Renate Reinsve) are an international couple, he being Romanian and she Norwegian. They’ve emigrated to a small town set in a remote fjord on Norway’s coastline, and they seem to be settling in. Yet when one of the teachers at the town’s school notices bruises on one of their five children, child protective services is called – and so begins a Kafka-like trek through Norway’s legal system that stresses the importance of keeping children safe but at the same time seems not to respect parental rights. Not, at least, when those rights are held by religious conservatives such as Mihail and Lisbet. Writer-director Cristian Mungiu may be most famous for his Palme d’Or-winning 2007 film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which also sets characters up against the law, and reactions to “Fjord” are bound to be affected by where people stand on the issues raised. But no credible criticism can be made of the two lead performances by an unrecognizable Stan and the equally effective Reinsve, both of whom can boast of previous Oscar nominations.
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