Forbrydelsen (The Crime or The Killing)

[alexandral]

I have sailed through 2 seasons of this Danish show in a records time. For me, the show felt like fresh water on dry soil: it has been a long long while since a show challenged me on all different levels at once (intellectual, emotional and esthetical) . And this is considering that the first season moves with a book-like pace: the characters are explored and developed in depth, with careful attention to detail.



What is "The Killing"? First of all, it is a well-written whodunit story that concentrates on the Police hunts for the killer of a young girl (Nanna Birk Larsen) in the first season; and murderers in Mindelunden WW2 park in the second season . Both seasons involve a political story as well: Copenhagen Mayor election campaign in the season 1 and events in the Parlament surrounding new "anti-terrorism pack" proposal in the season 2 . The main character is Sarah Lund, a Danish police woman. I really appreciated the fact that in both seasons the killer wasn't someone who just appeared out of the blue. The hints to the killer's identity were accessible if you watched carefully. I really like this type of crime stories, where everyone and everything are not as they seem, but at the same time there are pieces of the puzzle thrown around to taunt our brain. My brain gets easily bored with the usual "the butlerthe most unlikely person did it!" crime storylines. I like to see what separates the killer from the rest of us, I love the psychological bits. In "The Killing" I guessed the killer in both seasons, but the show had me wondering and changing my mind until the end (both times).

But what truly set "The Killing" apart was the human drama aspect of the story. This is something we see quite rarely in Crime fiction: careful representation of the way the crime affects the family of the victim. One day Theis Birk Larsen is a happy man trying to make a hard living as a removalist; he just found that perfect house which his family is going to move into from the tiny rented flat. Another day everything falls apart following his daughter's murder, everything. The suffering of the family was so real that I found it truly hard to watch.

And if the show was not awesome enough after all this, it also had things to say about racism, class divide , society built on privilege and the war in Afghanistan.

It has some fantastic acting performances, especially from Sofie Gråbøl who lays Sarah Lund. I have a big crush on Lund, who is a lady of powerful intelligence. She has her shortcomings, but they just make her more human, not taking away even a bit from her uncompromising character. Her signature wear are knitted sweaters. I wish I could knit! The Internet is full of "knit a sweater like Sarah Lund's" pages!

The season 1 moves slowly and goes really deep, the season 2 moves much faster, with more victims but less depth.


Awesome Sarah Lund:










With her second season's partner, Ulrik Strange:




With her first season's partner, Jan Meyer:



The most interesting politician character, new candidate for the Mayor, Troels Hartman:



Nanna's parents:

Comments

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Oh, this sounds amazing! I will definitely look out for it! (And it seems to resemble some crime fiction by a wonderful Norwegian author called Jo Nesbo - I think you would like The Redbreast which is his first novel translated into English!)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you are interested! Although "The Killing" and "The Wire" are very different and to say that "The Killing" reminded me of "The Wire" will be misdirecting, the fact still remains: I thought few times of "The Wire" when I was watching it.

The show is going to be re-made by AMC: http://www.amctv.com/originals/the-killing/about/

PS: I messed up some of the images (was rushing to go home), but I have put them right now.

[siljamus]

I think you'd probably love it, if you can deal with its (by US standards) very slow pace.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I liked the slow apace - it sort of got me into almost a trans in some parts, it was as if I was living in the show.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

This sounds really good! My fingers are crossed it comes to PBS (or some channel I get) over here. Thanks for the heads-up.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

They are showing it on BBC , so hopefully will get it as well! The season 3 will be out in 2012, I can't wait!

[siljamus]

Really great write up of a really good show. One thing I can add is that I also found it refreshingly accurate in it's depiction of many (mind you, not all) aspects of contemporary Danish society.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

YAY! I thought that it was a very realistic show, I am so glad you confirmed it. I am feeling a bit bereft after the season 2 ended. :D

[(Anonymous)]

It's looks interesting, but where I can download this with english subs?

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

** cough cough ** If you live in UK, the show is on BBC on i-player. But I have seen it in all the usual torrent places - seems to be a popular show recently.

[nahaluk.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, the comment above was mine, I forgot to log in.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

No problems!

** cough cough ** If you live in UK, the show is on BBC on i-player. But I have seen it in all the usual torrent places - seems to be a popular show recently.

[nahaluk.livejournal.com]

Thank you, after a good search, I found it.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

YAY! I hope you like it!