Wallander: Episodes 1-3 (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)The wonderful, Basset Hound-faced Krister Henriksson, a great Swedish actor, is simply irresistible and irreplaceable as Inspector Kurt Wallander. Thus far by my count there are 26 episodes in which Henriksson has played Wallander, from 2005 to date. (I just saw his latest last night, but I can't recall the title.)
Created by author Henning Mankell (NO, this is not an alias for Diane Fossum!), Wallander is the epitomy of common day-to-day homicidal inspection in Sweden. Mankell has said the story is the vital thing--he uses events in Sweden for inspiration--the cops come in second place to the story.
Wallander as a character seems to be a raging controversy because Kenneth Brannagh deigned to play Wallander in an all-English-speaking series. The big fans of that series are rather pissed off about the original Swedish versions. WHY?
As for Britain/Brannagh, let me see if I can explain carefully, when it comes to foreign offerings:
Whenever someone comes along to do an English remake of something non-English, it automatically loses its cultural and ethnic contexts. Wallander is set in Sweden, with Swedes and their stories, showing the function of the Swedish police (in this case, the city of Ystad).
I don't think most people pay attention to how silly it looks for this world to be suddenly "translated" into English. When Americans or Brits do a remake, they usually "Anglicize" the story first, unless doing something historical. Yet the British version of Wallander is still "Swedish", set in modern Sweden, TRIES to take from Mankell's original stories, and for all those reasons, it fails.
And though I am a big fan of Brannagh, he is no Henriksson. So, if they had made, say, an ENGLISH Wallander set in London or Bristol or Coventry, I'd go for it, I'd love it because it would be based on the Swedish Wallander, pay due homage, and show us the equivalent information set in modern England. That would have been well worth the investment.
Anyway, pay no mind to the shouting about the English remake. Henriksson is barely matched by Brannagh's silly, semi-confused portrayal. Here you will get all the good Swedish atmosphere (and GENUINE), the laid-back Swedish acting that is nonetheless so satisfying...and a good, sane approach to police forensics in Sweden. It seems we have such a hard time understanding policework in Europe, and I am especially taken by the weird attitudes I see in Sweden, Norway, Finland and France.
Wallander is a treat for me because I knew so many cops like him. He has his demons and pains, but he has a smart, calm and tricky demeanor as a homicide inspector. He lives, he enjoys his opera, coffee and aged whiskey, he loves his daughter Linda, who is also a cop. Though his theories are mostly put out there so he himself may discredit them, it beautifully shows him thinking aloud. No Poirot or Holmes magic tricks here...just meat-n-potatoes inspecting, the kind I know from my own life.
I'd say not to waste money on Brannagh. Get the real thing, and savor it, the way Swedes linger over coffee and snow--but learn to read subtitles at light speed, unless you know Swedish.
By the way, this set consists of episodes 1-3, with the next available set consisting of episodes 4-6. Stick to only these two sets. As far as I know, out of the 26 episodes, this is all you're going to get here. All the rest are in PAL region 2 format, available only for Britain apparently.
Oh, well, I thought they had Brannagh! In the U.S. we like the genuine stuff, and the real thing: Henriksson. As to buying, I won't budge on this until all 26-to-date episodes are availbale as a set HERE.

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