Wallender on Masterpiece Theater

SANDY: Yesterday night we watched the first episode of WGBH’s new series Wallender. I thought the plot far-fetched but could not find fault with Kenneth Branagh who fell right into the role playing detective Kurt Wallender. Since the detective is a Swede, I thought it would be fun to hear what Sven thought about the show.

SVEN: I started reading Mankell long before he became famous. He belongs in the tradition of Swedish detective writers. The best known is Sjövall-Valö who wrote detective stories in the sixties and seventies, a mixture of criminal stories and social critique, whose work is somewhat like, in this country, Pellocarnos. I like this genre. The first episode of Wallender was based on actual events in Sweden in the seventies and eighties. The Swedish Minister of Justice was involved in prostitution, and members of the elite were buying prostitutes, so the story has a factual background. As a Swede, I liked the way the story was told, and I really enjoying seeing the beautiful landscape from the south of Sweden where I sailed many years ago. I found the screenplay a bit exaggerated, as did Sandy, but the photography and acting were excellent.