A refugee crisis is upon Europe. Resentment, tragedy, and trafficking boats pepper the continent. Asylum laws are tightening, and borders are closing within the free-movement zone. Except, replace the face of the refugee in your mind with affluent Scandinavians from the land of good governance stereotypes. What could they be fleeing? A yet unseen but entirely inevitable, and unrelenting enemy. Europe is buckling under climate stress.
This is the premise of Oscar-winning director Thomas Vinterberg’s seven-part Danish miniseries, Families Like Ours (2024). Set in a dystopian near-future, Denmark is being evacuated due to rising water levels; six million citizens, now refugees, wherever they may be accepted. With most wealth tied up in real estate—now worthless in a land slipping beneath the sea—Denmark’s displaced face stark choices. Those dependent on government aid are funnelled into cramped housing in Eastern Europe, while the more privileged attempt to relocate to Western Europe and the rest of Scandinavia. The series follows a cross-section of families as they navigate unforeseen obstacles and impossible choices—forced to uproot their lives into the unknown.
