Nordic suspense

Rating: 8/10 (13 May 2010)

Everything about Niels Arden Oplev's "Män som hatar kvinnor" ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in English) is totally new to me. I had never heard of Stieg Larsson's novel, let alone what the plot what. That made the film even more of a treat. Not only for the suspense, but for the idea of how a young Goth woman uses her computer smarts to help an embattled journalist solve a forty-year-old murder in a Swedish town. The movie also incorporates the history of the Nazis in Sweden (although that country avoided involvement in WWII).
It is just amazing how they let the story evolve. I couldn't have come up with something that clever if I'd tried. I really liked it when Lisbeth teaches that one guy a lesson! But above all, this is definitely one that I recommend. Every Swedish movie that I've seen knows how to get every aspect right, and this one adds to that number.
I noticed that some of the Swedish phrases sound exactly the same as in English. Of course, they are both Germanic, so it makes sense.