Out of Nature

If one of the specific attributes of human beings is the ability to doubt, then Out of Nature is one big humanist statement. Martin has many doubts before deciding to take a break from his wife and son and go for a weekend trip in the nature. For almost the entire film, he is alone in the Norwegian landscape, but here the nature, even if it is well photographed, has effectively nothing to say. It is just a way to let Martin self-process. The 80 minutes of film are just one long stream of consciousness, in which Martin’s thoughts take the form of an inner monologue: a voice-over with images. It would have been difficult for a producer to accept such a radical concept. But the film never gets boring. Ole Giæver, heroically playing himself in front of his camera, finds a good mixture of happenings, humour, realist details and, moreover, big questions like family, paternity, fidelity, nostalgia for the light irresponsibility of youth. What is most convincing in this movie is the exceptional sincerity of Martin’s thoughts: never dogmatic, never leaving the impression that Giæver & Vold wanted to pass a specific message to the audience.. The entertaining little adventure in the wild is combined with a corrosive sarcasm about some apparently untouchable family and paternal values. Everyone can easily recognize him/herself even in the most cynical reflections. Even if Giæver & Vold chose the “happy” ending, returning home to play with his child, we had already experienced what we could call a “truth game” or a “sincerity game” at the end of the film. Out of Nature is a nice, simple film, which addresses important questions in a frank way, guaranteeing us an intriguing experience.