The winner of the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in the 65th Berlinale, Mot Naturen, directed and written by Ole Giæver, explores the desire of mankind for an adventure out into the wild. During the adventure, Martin is challenged with his thoughts about life, family, nature, and overall his own self on the earth.
As assumed before with its name which translated into ‘Out of Nature’, the movie demonstrates the dream of most of the middle class people which could seem #whitepeopleproblem by demonstrating a bored middle class family father spending a weekend embarking on a journey alone in the nature, not physically but also psychologically. While hiking and getting naked when nobody is around(mostly), Martin allows himself to think about the meaning of life, communication he barely appreciated before with his family, responsibilities built upon his shoulders as a father, relationship with his body as a human being, and the purity in his sexual instincts. This confrontation opens up a door to audience kind of a forgotten way of seeing life.
Although it may sound the movie lacks of plot, and only relies on the idea mentioned above, it is the dream of achieved person to leave everything behind and escape from the responsibilities came upon monotonously structural life in the city. The reality, though, does not allow him go into further his satisfaction he seeks to reach without his daily life and people around him. In this post-modernism era when the world is looking for a way to identify itself with acknowledging the dust left from the past, the critically acclaimed Norwegian director, who also plays the main role Martin, is not afraid of putting all he has into the subject matter and grabs the attention of the audience in an unexpectedly relentless way that cause to ask themselves the questions going around Martin’s head throughout his journey.
