Powerful

Absolutely Brilliant!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The first season finale deals with the ugliest of crimes, child abuse and rape. A boy has found after being sexually assaulted, his head beaten. But before this we see another slight young man being abused by an unseen rapist. This is shown in black and white flashback. Because Stefan knows the father of the first boy mentioned, he goes to tell him. What ensues are cover ups and the realization that a much decorated retired policeman has been finding child molesters. The problem is that there are a whole bunch of questions. We know quite shortly in the episode that Stefan was victimized himself, but has not told anyone. Linda is worried about him; she knows what a pile of TNT he is sitting on. Kurt is directed toward the case and is frustrated with Stefan's vacillation. He is also worried his volatility will compromise the case. Unfortunately, he knows nothing of Stefan's past. This leads to a total surprise ending. I think this is the best, but saddest, episode.

Having watched the whole Season 1 almost in succession (however, after Season 2), I am happy to admit that the general impression obtained is good and recommended. In spite of the fact that the plots are not equally even or interesting. Sometimes the criminal is revealed (or can be guessed) too soon/easily, and race with time is not always catchy to follow when you know the guilty person and his or her motives. To some extent, it depends on the topics and the number of twists; to me, for example, secrets from the past are more interesting than plain money lust or modern crime. But the last episode is among the best ones.I definitely like Swedish Wallander-series more than the British one as it is more ensemble here; in the UK, Kenneth Branagh sticks too much out from his co-actors and his character is more a kind of loner.

Pedophilia is at the center of the last installment of the first "Wallander" season. It was one of the best developed chapters in the Swedish series about the work of Henning Mankell.As the episode begins, we watch a young boy being photographed by an adult. It is obvious the boy does not want to be photographed at all, which triggered something in our mind about this being a case of sexual abuse of that child. This scene is the key to understanding the dark secret someone has kept within him for such a long time, and unfortunately, this young lad's life will end in tragedy.When a boy is found dead in a ditch, the Ystad police is notified. The fact that the boy has been beaten to death does not prepare Kurt Wallander and his men for the discovery that, not contented with the killing, the perpetrator had sexually violated the victim as well. The murdered child is the son of Lasse Bengtsson, a young father that happens to be Stefan's friend. It is determined the boy was killed by a blow to his head with a hard object and white fibers are found around the bullet wound.The investigation takes the police into several areas. One man that seems to know a lot about the nature of the crime is Roffe Liljegren, a retired member of the police force that whose work dealt with trying to infiltrate himself into known pedophile groups in order to break their pornographic rings. Roffe points the detectives to a man, that might have something to do with the murder, since he is a known pedophile. When the police arrive at the country cabin the suspect owns, they find the man dead from a gun shot. Stefan Lindman, a loose cannon, feeling bad about his friend Lasse, begins to do a lot false movements that irritate Kurt Wallander. His erratic behavior leads to his temporary suspension. One night, arriving in a drunken state at Linda's house, she makes him stay and sleep on the sofa. She notices Stefan's wound and asks him about it.The police determines the young boy was slain in one place and transferred to the ditch where he was found. The police thinks he was loaded into a van and dumped at the site. Their efforts to locate the vehicle proves elusive. Linda suspects Roffe is more involved in the murder, than he admits, something that leads her into a grim discovery about Stefan and that ultimately implicates the criminal and solves the mystery.A good finale for this surprising Swedish series. The episode was directed by Stephan Apelgren, a man that contributed to the success of "Wallander" with his take on the inspector and the Ystad police force. Written by Sefan Ahnhem and Stefan Thunberg, the action is well paced as it deals with solving the puzzle of Stefan Lindman, the tormented detective that made a lot of mistakes in the way he constantly provoked the ire of Kurt, and helped alienate himself from his colleagues.Krister Henriksson and Johanna Sallstrom give affecting performances. It is the first time we actually see a human side to Kurt's stoicism, as well as Linda's passion for Stefan, something that put her at odds with her father, and boss. Ola Rapace, who plays Stefan, had some good moments. Same could be said about Anders Ahlbom, an good addition to anything in which he is asked to contribute, as proved by his recent appearances on a couple of films based on Stieg Larsson's novels.Ystad, the small locale where the action takes place is captured by the cinematographer, Peter Mokrosinski. The musical score is by Adam Norden.

As the first series of the excellent Swedish series draws to a close things aren't going to well for the Ystad police; following an accusation of an assault in the previous case Stefan is under investigation, and soon finds himself suspended... but not before he has to an inform a fellow member of the local shooting club that his son has been abused and murdered. The prime suspect is a man who was seen picking the boy up at a local supermarket but a search of his house suggests no crime took place there. A neighbour, who used to be a policeman tells them that the suspect has a Summer house but when they get there they find their suspect has been shot dead. It seems like this is the end of the case but something isn't quite right; there is no evidence that the boy was ever there, there are no incriminating photographs and it looks like somebody with knowledge of police procedures has cleaned up the crime scene.When Linda Wallander looks into similar cases of child murder she finds that the neighbour had arrested somebody for killing a child using the same modus operandi several years before, this person couldn't have done it though as he is in prison. Things are further complicated when Stefan turns up at Linda's house and she sees that he has an injury which appears to be a bullet wound.This fine ending to the first series is tinged with sadness as the actress Johanna Sällström who did such a great job as police officer Linda Wallander took her life a few months after the series ended, Wallander won't be the same without her. The rest of the cast did a good job too, especially Ola Rapace who put in a great performance as Stefan as events in his childhood return to haunt him. Having enjoyed this series I hope the BBC will air the second series at some point.