Review and news hub for movies, music and video games

Show:		6.0
Picture:		7.0
Sound:		7.0
Extras:		8.0
Score:		6.0

Director(s):	Philip Martin
Writer(s):	Richard Cottan and Richard McBrian (Screenplay), Henning Mankell (Novels)
Starring:	David Warner • Jeany Spark • Kenneth Branagh • Sadie Shimin • Sarah Smart • Tom Hiddleston
Genre:	Television
Website:	http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/01_january/10/wallander.shtml
Release Date:	June 02, 2009

List Price:	DVD - $25.99
Amazon:

The enigmatic protagonist of a series of dark, Swedish detective novels penned by author Henning Mankell, the impressively named Kurt Wallander is something of a global phenomenon within the crime fiction genre. In Germany his adventures outsell those of Harry Potter and the series boasts sales of over twenty-five million copies worldwide. Fine literary pedigree we can all agree, but this TV mini-series adaptation, the first of any kind for the English language sadly loses something in the translation.

In a bid for authenticity, something that is always admirable, the BBC set up shop in Ystad, Sweden to film the series; three self-contained episodes, ninety minutes a piece. But rather than casting locals who could speak English and then simply having Branagh adopt a Swedish accent (something he is surely capable of) they instead opted for an all English cast. The result are stories where all the signs, newspapers, and billboards are in Swedish, all the names are Swedish, and yet everyone speaks with a non-regional English accent, the overall effect of which is to constantly remind you that you’re watching a very polished reproduction.

The loss of any organic feel to the series is a death knell as much of the atmosphere derives from this specific time and place. From the melancholic theme which sings of “Tram lines across northern skies,” to the deceptively idyllic countryside there is something inherently Swedish about these mysteries that does not carry over to this series. Offering bleak mysteries laced with noir sensibility that sniff out the dark side of human nature, Wallander is a twisted take on the paradox of Sweden; a nation gripped by wild spikes in suicide and violent crime, wrestling with its own image as the great social experiment of openness and sexual freedom.

Lacking this central contextual spine, the series slumps into yet another largely vanilla detective series with beats and tics that we’ve seen a dozen times before on British television; the detached and disheveled obsessive who goes home to an empty apartment and a mountain of ironing was done in A Touch of Frost. The caustic, abrasive maverick with a shambolic personal life and an estranged family evokes memories of Cracker. Even Wallander’s love of opera, a recurring theme in the books, was axed for the series for fears it would too closely mirror Inspector Morse.

It certainly doesn’t help the cause that in adapting the novelized series they elected to start in the middle, thereby depriving us of vital exposition and background as to Wallander’s motives, his passions, hell, his story, which would have surely been laid out back at the beginning. Branagh is of course an acting powerhouse, but his performance here is so measured and minimalist as to be downright understated. In keeping with the downbeat tone there is much in the way of lingering close-ups and long, drawn out moments of silence that at times make it appear there is some inner monologue fleshing out the goings-on that we’re not privy to.

It’s not that there is anything bad about the series; in fact it is the very definition of adequate. But given that it is in the end so middle of the road and so redundant in form that if this sort of thing appeals to you then, given their wild popularity, perhaps the books are a better bet for richer character and deeper mystery.

DVD Bonus Features

These extras are commendably extensive. "Who is Kurt Wallander?" is essentially a fifty-five minute information dump that unloads absolutely everything you could ever possibly want to know about: the novels, the towns, the author, the sociological context, and much more. It’s a real treat. The rest are perhaps a tad dry. "Branagh’s Wallander" is a fifteen minute long chat with the actor during which he discusses how he came to be involved and his take on the central paradigm of the series. "The Wallander Look" is a thirty-five minute take on the production design by Branagh and author Henning Mankell. "Branagh and Mankell Interview" has the pair discussing their insights on the nature of the stories.