Best of Foreign: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Män Hatar Som Kvinnor)

The Swedish Poster for the movie
Image courtesy of Obsessedwithfilm.com

The late Stieg Larsson's dark crime thriller had me gripped from start to finish. The film is the first installment in The Millenium Trilogy and is the story of Michael Blomvkist (Michael Nyqvist), a journalist for 'Millenium Magazine'. Renowned for his investigative skills, he is recruited by Henrik Vagner (Sven-Bertil Taube) the ex-CEO of a major capitalist corporation to track down a woman who vanished without a trace from her hometown Hedeby more than 40 years ago, who he believes was murdered by one of his family members. What follows is a mysterious and tense investigation into a web of deceit, religion and serial murder. During this time, Blomkvist meets the intriguing Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a skilled computer hacker and private investigator (hired to spy on Bolmkvist), with a background darker than the backroom of a soho strip club. They join forces and work together to solve the classic 'whodunnit' mystery of the missing woman, putting themselves in danger and growing closer along their journey deeper into the investigation. As Blomkvist becomes obsessed and isloated because of the case, they slowly unravel a series of clues, unearthing family secrets and solving a series of brutal murders along the way.

The film is atmospheric from the off, it's opening scene alone should be enough to keep you wanting more. The score has moments of beauty, and whilst it's played over some of the occasionally stunning, sometimes unsettling and eerie imagery, it makes for a powerhouse of an experience. It's directed by Niels Arden Oplev and he has definitely made his mark with the help of his talented cast Noomi Rapace (below) is particularly impressive as the titular Lisbeth. I should probably mention that the movie is in Swedish with English subtitles though they are no issue whatsoever, but if you are one of those people that somehow can't read subs and watch a film simultaneously (shame on you), the DVD release does come with an English audio dub, so you really don't have any excuse for not watching this one. Although I sampled the audio dub version, and simply couldn't bare it.

Manhandled: Noomi Rapace as the sexually abused Lisbeth
Image courtesy of beamesonfilm.blogspot.com

I only have a few real gripes with the film, one being that some scenes feel a little rushed and abrupt, in particular the final scenes after the investigation. But the rest of the film has clearly had so much care put into it, that I can excuse the final segment after the resolution for being a tad shallow. Plus at 180 minutes long and with so much covered in that time, the film can feel quite lengthy, much longer added and it could've potentially started to outstay it's welcome, but the timing was more or less just right in the end. The other gripe being the film's title, which I will explain in due course.

One of the things that intrigues me the most about this film is it's background. It's original Swedish title is  Män Hatar Som Kvinnor which literally translates into Men Who Hate Women, a title with a lot more relevance and history than it's much more marketable English version. Larsson was witness to a gang rape when he was just fifteen years old and he openly confessed that he didn't do anything to help. He pays homage to the victim in the story, naming his empowered female protagonist Lisbeth after her. This event in his life carries much more weight than just a name though, rape is a commonplace topic in the film, alongside Nazism, journalism and moral corruption in society (all issues occurring in Sweden which Larsson felt strongly about) and I think that going into the movie knowing this makes everything seem so much more true to life. The way he deals with the abusal of women throughout the story is crushingly brutal in places, but remains within reason and doesn't draw too much away from the story with shocking imagery (this is no Irreversible, but it isn't one for the naive either). That is why Män Hatar Som Kvinnor is for me, a far superior title. And thus comes my second issue with the film. The 'dragon tattoo' as mentioned in the title is an utterly irrelevant plot point in the film, I haven't read the book admittedly, so I don't know just how relevant it is to the original story, but in this adaption it's meaning is minimal, shown briefly in two scenes, with nothing more said on it, when I'm assuming it has more meaning than that. I also feel that this makes Lisbeth the focal point to the film, despite her coming across as more of a supporting role next to Mikael. This says one word to me... 'marketing', I mean, who'd want to see a movie with a foreign title? sigh.

Harriet, the missing woman, but who killed her?
Image courtesy of Guardian.co.uk

The Verdict

Title issues aside, the film is a treat to watch. With interesting characters and history and some very dark imagery, Män Hatar Som Kvinnor will have you gripped from the word go, and has a very strong impact, thus earning itself a solid 8/10. It has a fantastic mystery plot which will keep you guessing until it's climatic finish, but take heed, with brutal murders and sexual violence, this isn't your average episode of Murder She Wrote. Stieg Larsson's story is believable and with Oplev's directing it really comes to life, so if you're bored of Britain and have had enough of Hollywood, then I recommend you check out this Swedish thriller as soon as possible.