REVIEW: ‘Families Like Ours’ Balances Realism In Its Uncertainty

Families Like Ours (Familier som vores) is a Danish drama directed by Thomas Vinterberg and written by Bo Hr. Hansen and Thomas Vinterberg. In the series, the people of Denmark wake up one day to learn that their country is shutting down, and the world will never be the same. Rising waters will soon render the nation unlivable, forcing the mass relocation of its entire population.

But what does someone do with nearly six million people who will soon be without a home? That is the question that Laura (Amaryllis April Maltha August) and her family must struggle with as they try to cling to each other, despite the cruel choices the world presses on them.

There are two key elements that Families Like Ours is built on. The first is realism. Despite the natural disaster energy of the series, it never wavers from telling a grounded tale. With the problem of rising tides looming, the evacuation began before the ocean had begun to encroach on residential areas. This allows the series to focus on how the people contend with the dramatic shift in their lives, rather than contending with the disaster itself.

As Families Like Ours follows the core cast beyond their homeland, the problems they encounter never feel exaggerated. This is true in both their severity and their frequency. As refugees in lands where they are not wholly welcome, they face many of the kinds of threats you’d expect. Things escalate when, in order to save those who find themselves in tough spaces,  characters proceed to break more rules out of desperation.

The balance between realism and nuance crafts a compelling narrative in Families Like Ours.

However, Families Like Ours doesn’t paint nearly as bleak an image as it could. While some are willing to hurt and take advantage of those at their lowest point, many happily help them. Large and small acts of kindness alike shine when they arrive, making the series feel like a general look at what could happen in this scenario and not just an attempt to make as depressing a seven-episode miniseries as possible.

The other element that allows Families Like Ours to create a deep, thoughtful narrative is how strongly it embraces nuance. Many acts throughout the series can be called questionable, but they frequently come from a place of need. The presentation does a great job of delivering these aspects of the story to the viewer impartially, allowing them to make their judgment.

This focus is one of the first elements of the plot that opens the story. Nikolaj (Esben Smed) works for the government and learns of the impending shutdown in the opening moments of the show. He and his partner quickly begin selling assets and recommend that their brother-in-law do the same.

Insider trading is morally dubious under the best of circumstances, but selling assets cheap so others will spend their money just before the entire country crashes around them is awful. However, this clearly isn’t an act of callousness, just desperation. Seeing how things crumble beneath everyone as cash reserves dry up and Danish money loses value, the series challenges the audience to answer whether they would act differently to care for their loved ones.

Both of these storytelling pillars enrich the focal point of narrative: family. How the various families in the show interact, care for each other, and fail each other always feels dynamic and powerful. Family sometimes falls short when you expect them to come through, and others walk away when it feels impossible for them to do so. And sometimes, the worst outcomes are born of the noblest intentions.

Family always remains central, showing how they come together and fall apart in times of crisis.

The series’s willingness to embrace silence helps build up the ever-present looming disaster. Text messaging is frequently shown in white text on a black screen, creating a singular focus on what’s being written. These moments go silent numerous times as someone sends out a desperate message and anxiously awaits a response that doesn’t always come. The quiet in these moments is deafening.

All the drama that fuels Families Like Ours is fabulously executed. Hard moments can breathe, with the larger narrative never stalling for too long. The series’s blend of the personal and the global allows it to keep the story interesting even as it moves at its own pace.

The only place where this excellent pacing falters is in the final episode. As the show draws its last narrative strands together, it feels like it needs at least one more episode to do the many plot lines justice. As it stands, where it gets to is good, but it could have executed the final leg of the journey better.

Families Like Ours delivers a dramatic and grounded narrative. Its measured pacing gives moments to breathe and audiences time to grapple with the moral implications of the actions that play out before them. Its nuanced story and imperfect characters leave a lasting impression of humanity at its best and worst.

Families Like Ours is streaming now on Netflix.