Forget "House of Cards." Forget "Dicte."
The best of Nordic Noir and Netflix is the Norwegian "Occupied."
It is so clever and current, and it speaks to an issue I had not fully appreciated: What happens when you have a bully with a bludgeon next door who decides to use that power?
Not since Steinbeck, has a story posed the questions of when and how do you resist force, especially a force which may at first look like a "silk glove" occupation?
Set in the near future, after a series of climate catastrophes, the Green Party in Norway is swept into power on the idea that fossil fuels have got to go, and the new Prime Minister shuts down all those North Sea oil rigs off the coast of Norway and insists on pioneering a new, safe nuclear option, "Thorium."
But Russia, and the rest of Europe have the problem of "Now." Middle Eastern oil has been shut down by civil wars there and somehow the Russian oil production seems to have been thwarted--you would think Russia would be happy to be left as the biggest oil producer in the world, but no, they are oil starved and need Norway to start pumping again.
The United States, now entirely oil sufficient, has quit NATO and is no longer interested in Europe, withdrawn and isolated. America first has left the little countries within easy reach of Russia unprotected.
Suddenly, the new Prime Minister finds his oil rigs occupied by Russian troops, who have the blessing of the rest of Europe, and Russian troops arrive in Oslo and at strategic places. Resistance to the overwhelming might of Russia appears futile and the Russians promise, once the oil starts flowing, they'll leave.
The Prime Minister sees only fruitless loss of life as the price of resistance.
The choice of resistance or capitulation, the notion of honor, the instinct to fight, the calculation of how much a principle is worth in terms of human lives all swirl around the many subplots of this masterpiece.
And I'm only through Episode 2, Season 1.
It makes you think about Trump's Russian connection, about power, thugs and the risk of finding the Russians at your door, and in your neighborhood.
A Russian bought the house next to mine some years ago, outside Washington, D.C.
It was a ranch house, modest but prim and neat. He demolished it. In it's place, he built a McMansion which towered over my house, making it look like the carriage house next door. The neighbors were aghast.
One day one of his hired men started digging a hole on my lawn to plant a big fir tree, and I walked out and told him he was digging on my property and he shrugged, looked at me and kept digging.
So I called the County men, and one came out and made the Russian dig up his tree and he also made him disconnect his huge outside air conditioner air compressors, which straddled our property line and move it behind his house, to conform to code.
That little incident must have cost him a couple of thousand dollars.
If he cared, I don't know. He seemed to have plenty of money.
I should not generalize about Russians from my one experience, but it does fit that image of the Russian who does just what he wants because he can.
Makes you want to fight.
But the smart thing sometimes is to simply move on.
My grandfathers did that. Told the czar and the Russians to keep their stinking country, hopped a boat and found a way more attractive country to live in, to thrive in.
You can have your country, your war with Hitler and your pogroms and your despotic government and your oligarchs. Thanks for being such unappetizing knuckle draggers you drove the good people out. We found a better place, far from your cesspool.
I did the same thing and moved to New Hampshire. Like my grandfathers, I found a way better place to live. Let the Russian have his big house. Maybe all his friends will move into the neighborhood and they can all get drunk together. I'm rid of them.
But now the Russians are coming again. Norway, Ukraine, maybe even Washington.
Hopefully, it'll take them a few generations before they discover New Hampshire.
The best of Nordic Noir and Netflix is the Norwegian "Occupied."
It is so clever and current, and it speaks to an issue I had not fully appreciated: What happens when you have a bully with a bludgeon next door who decides to use that power?
Not since Steinbeck, has a story posed the questions of when and how do you resist force, especially a force which may at first look like a "silk glove" occupation?
Set in the near future, after a series of climate catastrophes, the Green Party in Norway is swept into power on the idea that fossil fuels have got to go, and the new Prime Minister shuts down all those North Sea oil rigs off the coast of Norway and insists on pioneering a new, safe nuclear option, "Thorium."
But Russia, and the rest of Europe have the problem of "Now." Middle Eastern oil has been shut down by civil wars there and somehow the Russian oil production seems to have been thwarted--you would think Russia would be happy to be left as the biggest oil producer in the world, but no, they are oil starved and need Norway to start pumping again.
The United States, now entirely oil sufficient, has quit NATO and is no longer interested in Europe, withdrawn and isolated. America first has left the little countries within easy reach of Russia unprotected.
Suddenly, the new Prime Minister finds his oil rigs occupied by Russian troops, who have the blessing of the rest of Europe, and Russian troops arrive in Oslo and at strategic places. Resistance to the overwhelming might of Russia appears futile and the Russians promise, once the oil starts flowing, they'll leave.
The Prime Minister sees only fruitless loss of life as the price of resistance.
The choice of resistance or capitulation, the notion of honor, the instinct to fight, the calculation of how much a principle is worth in terms of human lives all swirl around the many subplots of this masterpiece.
And I'm only through Episode 2, Season 1.
It makes you think about Trump's Russian connection, about power, thugs and the risk of finding the Russians at your door, and in your neighborhood.
A Russian bought the house next to mine some years ago, outside Washington, D.C.
It was a ranch house, modest but prim and neat. He demolished it. In it's place, he built a McMansion which towered over my house, making it look like the carriage house next door. The neighbors were aghast.
One day one of his hired men started digging a hole on my lawn to plant a big fir tree, and I walked out and told him he was digging on my property and he shrugged, looked at me and kept digging.
So I called the County men, and one came out and made the Russian dig up his tree and he also made him disconnect his huge outside air conditioner air compressors, which straddled our property line and move it behind his house, to conform to code.
That little incident must have cost him a couple of thousand dollars.
If he cared, I don't know. He seemed to have plenty of money.
I should not generalize about Russians from my one experience, but it does fit that image of the Russian who does just what he wants because he can.
Makes you want to fight.
But the smart thing sometimes is to simply move on.
My grandfathers did that. Told the czar and the Russians to keep their stinking country, hopped a boat and found a way more attractive country to live in, to thrive in.
You can have your country, your war with Hitler and your pogroms and your despotic government and your oligarchs. Thanks for being such unappetizing knuckle draggers you drove the good people out. We found a better place, far from your cesspool.
I did the same thing and moved to New Hampshire. Like my grandfathers, I found a way better place to live. Let the Russian have his big house. Maybe all his friends will move into the neighborhood and they can all get drunk together. I'm rid of them.
But now the Russians are coming again. Norway, Ukraine, maybe even Washington.
Hopefully, it'll take them a few generations before they discover New Hampshire.
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