The fictitious Kurt Wallander has had many film and television incarnations in his native Sweden. But this interpretation of Wallander gives us the first English-language adaptation of a brilliantly flawed detective. Kurt Wallander is a very lonely and rather detached individual who finds it difficult to leave his work at the station. His work haunts him nightly. His wife has recently left him indefinitely. Meanwhile, his daughter is trying to integrate him back into society, but to little avail.

Playing the role of Wallander is Kenneth Branagh. Now, normally, Kenneth Branagh gets under my skin. More often than not, he comes off as either an egotistical bastard or an arrogant prick. Sometimes both. Of course, those unlikable attributes are usually part of the role he may inhabit at the time. But in Wallander, Branagh plays it as genuine as possible – and never once makes me want to bitch-slap him.

But back to the series. Wallander brings us three feature-length stories from crime author Henning Mankell’s novels. It isn’t long after the breathtaking beginning of “Sidetracked” that the viewer finds him or herself hooked. The story, wherein Wallander investigates the murders of several important figures (all of whom are scalped), is far more addictive than anything American cable television offers. The hunger grows during the second installment, “Firewall” (as a seemingly random killing by an eighteen-year-old girl leads to more and more mayhem) and increases in “One Step Behind,” the final outing – which is also the most personal for our hero.

I confess I have never seen any of the foreign language Wallander films or TV series — nor have I read the books — so I cannot compare works. But from the beautiful photography to the haunting theme song by Emily Barker (“Nostalgia”), it is clear Branagh and the BBC have truly created a winner here — and this Wallander makes me want to give the other adaptations a good once over as well.

Article Author: Luigi Bastardo

Luigi Bastardo is the disgruntled alter-ego of Adam Becvar, a thirtysomething lad from Northern California who has watched so many weird movies since the tender age of 3 that a conventional life is out of the question. …

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