Wallander: Sidetracked / Firewall / One Step Behind

“Wallander”, Series 1 adapts three of Henning Mankell’s internationally popular detective novels into English-language films. Inspector Kurt Wallander, a scruffy middle-aged police detective in the seaside town of Ystad, Sweden, is frustrated by family pressures while he obsessively pursues the solution to his cases. Kenneth Branagh plays the unselfconscious Wallander with perhaps a little more ruggedness than earlier Swedish adaptations. But he is still a serious, introverted man who can hardly be distracted from his job. The series was filmed on location in Ystad, by coincidence at the same time a new Swedish adaptation was being filmed. The flatness and bigness of the countryside accentuate Wallander’s introversion and place the action against a sweeping tableau.

“Sidetracked” begins as a young woman burns herself to death in front of Wallander. He barely has time to ponder that tragedy when former Minister of Justice, now political pundit, Gustave Wetterstedt is found murdered near his home, his skull split with an axe and scalped. Then a wealthy art dealer of dubious reputation, Arnie Carmen, suffers the same fate. A drunken journalist who had attempted to do an exposé on Wetterstedt suggests a connection between the men: a prostitution ring years ago that was covered up by a corrupt police officer. But Wallander can’t move fast enough to prevent more murders. This episode is an effective introduction to Wallander and his family, but the murders are self-consciously bizarre and barely credible. The commentary on Swedish politics is interesting but touched upon only briefly. 3 stars.

“Firewall” finds a taxi driver stabbed to death by a young woman, Sonja Hokberg, who seems uninterested in the consequences, claiming “none of this matters”. Just as suspicions about her motive nag Wallander, a series of odd technical glitches allow Sonja to escape custody and a body to disappear from the morgue. It begins to look like Sonja’s escape is somehow connected to a computer programmer named Tynnes Falk who dropped dead after using an ATM in the town square. More bodies turn up, as Wallander and his detectives race to figure out what Falk was up to with the aid of hacker Robert Modin. The connections between events and the motives of the villains don’t strain credibility as much as the first episode. “Firewall” builds suspense and alludes to the possibility of economic terrorism, an intriguing subject. 4 stars.

“One Step Behind” opens with the murders of 3 young picnickers on Midsummer’s Eve. One of their mothers tries to convince the police that her daughter is really missing, not gallivanting around Europe on holiday. No one is quite convinced until fellow police detective Svedberg (Tom Beard) is found murdered in his apartment, photographs of the missing teenagers and of a mysterious woman named “Louise” concealed in a location that Wallander will find them. Svedberg’s life is a mystery as much as his death. What did he know about the 3 missing people? Why was he interviewing their parents and friends in the weeks before his death? The killer’s motives in this case seem entirely implausible and Svedberg’s actions are not adequately explained. But its strength is the genuine puzzle that it builds around Svedberg. 4 stars.
Rating: 4 / 5