Barn (2019)

Directed by: Dag Johan Haugerud | 157 minutes | drama | Actors: Ella Øverbye, Henriette Steenstrup, Jan Gunnar Røise, Thorbjørn Harr, Brynjar Åbel Bandlien, Andrea Bræin Hovig, Hans Olav Brenner, Anne Marit Jacobsen, Trine Wiggen, Adam Pålsson

Lykke and Jamie are two Norwegian classmates who usually get along very well. Both thirteen-year-olds are the child of a politician, one on the left and the other on the right, but that doesn’t get in the way of their friendship. Until one day the two get a receipt. Lykke lashes out with her school bag, Jamie ends up unlucky, the ambulance arrives too late. And then suddenly there is manslaughter, at a very ordinary school on a very ordinary school day.

The Norwegian drama ‘Barn’ begins when the tragedy has just happened, when Lykke has run away and Jamie is beyond saving. In the 2.5 hours that follow, we experience how a school community, the parents involved and the young offender try to come to terms with this. We attend parent meetings, a therapeutic session with Lykke, a memorial service and the vicissitudes of headmaster Liv.

If you expect great emotions, you have come to the wrong place with this film. ‘Barn’ is always thoughtful, slow and sparing with emotions. Only the scenes with Lykke are sometimes heartbreaking. Furthermore, we especially see how complicated it is to process such a tragedy, in an environment where many different (and sometimes opposing) forces are at work.

In terms of content, the film is related to dramas such as ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ (1997) and ‘Little Children’ (2006). Just like in ‘The Sweet Hereafter’, we are confronted with a community that is weighed down by questions and feelings of guilt after a tragedy. Why was invigilator Anders not on site? Could headmaster Liv have handled things better? As in ‘Little Children’, here it is the adults who behave more like children than the children themselves. Lykke himself is very clear about what happened, as the adults struggle to contain the tragedy.

It makes for a slightly too long, but very captivating drama. To not make it too heavy, the film has some humor and also visually ‘Barn’ is sometimes original. In addition, the film is honest in portraying a processing process, in the sense that daily life also continues. So in between it is also about sweaters, eczema and the vicissitudes of a love relationship. It is precisely these kinds of conversations that take the heaviness out of the film, like a light anecdote during a very heavy funeral service.