Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter - The Red Wolf (2012)

Simply A Masterpiece

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film in question follows the footsteps of several famous Scandinavian crime dramas with "feminine approach", i.e. the leading character is a strong woman who does well in masculine environment or even outperforms her associates. Usually they are based on book by female authors, and topics deal with "softer" values rather than harsh and nasty felonies. Similar to e.g. Dicte, Annika Bengtzon is a journalist, but both the character itself and performance are somewhat weaker than Iben Hjejle's Dicte; moreover, there are some sidelines not providing additional value to the course of events (Annika's family problems), and the ones depicting evil are quite inexpressive. On the other hand, the plot itself is intriguing and as I did not figure out the real killer, I can give 7 overall points. And as it was my first familiarisation with Liza Marklund / Annika Bengtzon, I would not like to express blunt criticism, perhaps they did not just "open" fully to me at first sight.

This Swedish television series captures the work and personal life of Annika Bengtzon, a tenacious journalist who relentlessly strives to unveil the truth and identities of criminals. She is also a doting, young mother and her conviction to her work often conflicts with her lion-hearted longing to be a good mother and supportive spouse/lover. The quick-paced show is artfully done (both visually and auditorily) and gives the viewer a sense that time is of the essence and moreover, it gives Annika's life a sense of edginess, fragility and most importantly, freedom, as she plunges headlong into tracking down criminals without thinking twice about the consequences. Annika is beautiful by American standards and average by Swedish standards. But she is not portrayed in any glossy fashion - she wears dark eyeliner, sloppy t-shirts and has pronounced bags under her eyes. The show does an excellent job at portraying a passionate, hard-working woman's struggles and it does an average job in creating compelling mysteries. The mysteries are somewhat formulaic, which is why we love them. However, a smart audience will eventually want to see more grit and complexity in its criminals. - Looking forward to Season 2.

I looked in here to get some clarification about the time line of the Red Wolf episode. In the office Annika was talking to Berit, one of the other reporters who was apparently an old-time lefty. Berit mentions she and a woman on the TV, perhaps the minister of culture, protested the Vietnam war together. But both the actress who plays Berit and the one who is the culture minister are too young to have been protesting the Vietnam war. The actress was ten years old in 1972, the last big year for protests.In another episode Annika recalls being nearly raped as a young girl. This is an unfortunate cliché, as it seems so many female detectives are survivors of rape. Most male detectives (on US TV at least) on the other hand are not only war veterans but also combat veterans. Both are unimaginative attempts to layer world-weariness onto characters who more likely have led ordinary comfortable suburban lives. I noticed in particular in TV series the Vietnam-vet trope was really stretched, giving detectives war cred who were too young to have been there. There was a period where it finally became too implausible, with detectives in their 30s, in the 1990s, being Vietnam vets, so they started making them be veterans of Grenada (!), and even Panama. Then the first Gulf War came along, and they could be veterans of that at least, even though it was a very brief war. Now with Iraq and Afghanistan police depts will be well stocked with the necessary gravitas that only combat experience can provide, for many years to come.The home life seems a cliché and predictable--the kids are tacked on. Would anyone notice if they were different from one episode to the next? You'd think the perennially put-upon spouse would have resigned himself to her schedule after all these years. And Annika's newsroom, with its "stop the presses"-type reporting seems an anachronism. No layoffs in this place! The gruff suspender-wearing editor is a pale copy of J. Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman comics of an earlier era.Still, I enjoy the show because the cinematography is beautiful, and it's nice to see the ridiculously glamorous Malin Crepin poking around in various interesting locations in Sweden, which we in the US don't often get to see.

This series is far better than its title (reminiscent of juvenile fiction) would lead one to believe. The series, adaptations of the books of Liza Marklund, comprises six 90-minute episodes, each representing a story that the main character, Annika Bengtzon, a crime reporter for a Stockholm newspaper, is pursuing. Each story is complete in itself, the thread that runs through them being the newspaper's staff, Bengtzon, and her personal life. Filmed in Sweden with a Swedish cast (and thus with English subtitles), the series features excellent cinematography and high production values. The stories are interesting; the time devoted to Bengtzon's pursuit of the story and the effect of her career on her personal life is well balanced; and the cast, especially Malin Crépin as Bengtzon, are effective. All six episodes can be streamed on Netflix.