I’ve said before that one of the best things about the
creation of video discs is that it allows items not often seen to be available
for an affordable price. Classic movies that were one the province of late
night TV only are now able to be seen whenever and where ever you want. The
same holds true for TV series we grew up with. And now the availability of TV
series and films from foreign countries is there at our fingertips with a quick
order on amazon. Acorn Media has played a large part in that and now they’re
offering another series but this time not from the standard Britain, Australia
or New Zealand. This one comes from Sweden.
REBECKA MARTINSSON is based on the novels involving the
character written by Åsa Larsson. In the first episodes we find Rebecka (Ida
Engvoll) working at a large law firm in Stockholm when she’s called home to
attend a funeral. The deceased is Mildred Nilsson, a widow and woman who played
a large part in Rebecka’s life. Returning to her hometown of Kurravaara in
Kiruna, she attends the funeral. There she begins to question what it was that
happened to her friend.
With a partnership on the line back in Stockholm, she makes
the decision to stay just a few more days to investigate. Going through her
friend’s home she comes across clues which she takes to Anna-Maria Mella (Eva
Melander), an inspector with the Kiruna police. Anna-Maria is not only one of
the better inspectors they have but only has so long to look into the case.
She’s pregnant and due any time. She and her partner Sven-Erik Stålnacke
(Thomas Oredsson) reopen the case and follow up on the clues Rebecka passed on
to them.
But this doesn’t stop Rebecka from trying to discover more
on her own. It turns out that Mildred wasn’t much liked by a number of people
in the town for her various positions on things taking place there. One group
in particular, a hunting club, had a particular beef with her. Soon another
body turns up and more questions rise from what was initially deemed a death by
accident.
This is just the first story of several to be found in this
collection of the first series. Not to offer a spoiler here but since there is
an entire series you should have guessed by now, Rebecka gives up her position
back in Stockholm and stays on where she grew up. Along the way she faces a
nervous breakdown and is later offered the position of prosecutor which she
accepts. The crimes in the area continue and the casts works together to solve
each as they appear.
The series works at taking it’s time to allow the story to
unravel while at the same time never becoming boring. Instead what they are
doing is allowing us the opportunity to become familiar with the characters, to
see how and why they behave, rather than simply expecting us to accept things
on face value. Even the location close to the Arctic Circle is a character of
sorts, providing a bleak yet beautiful backdrop for the stories to take place
in.
While many foreign films can lose much in translation I
didn’t find that to be the case here. The offering from Acorn presents the
series in the original language with subtitles rather than offering it with a
poorly done dubbing into English. I never found that distracting. Instead I got
used to listening to the actors in their native tongue.
In the end, much like the film THE SNOWMAN which was also
written by an author from the same area, it made me curious as to the writings
of the original novels and want to look into those. I also found myself anxious
to see what takes place with this character down the road. Hearing that a
second season is on the way I was glad to hear it. If you’re willing to take a
chance, to read subtitles and to view a murder mystery that takes the time to
get you involved rather than offer clues in random fashion, then you might want
to give this one a try.
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