Mankells Wallander

I've seen both recent episodes on the BBC4 channel, and think the show is simply excellent. The gritty style of Kurt Wallander, played superbly by Krister Henriksson, along with some very skilled direction and scriptwriting, make this a gripping detective series. It's not for the faint-hearted either as some scenes are very graphic. The nasty stuff genuinely sends chills down your spine, something very difficult to achieve. While the general character of the Swedes is one of reserve and ice, the scenes of violence and gore differentiates this from the normal stereotype. The cinematography is excellent, and it is a show I would recommend to many Film Studies students.

The supporting cast is the one possible weakness in this show, and more could be done to bring them into it more. Otherwise a very good show. BBC have unearthed a winning detective series

It's as if Krister Henriksson has just stepped off the page of one of Henning Mankell's books and transferred to the screen with his portrayal of the Swedish detective. Everything about this tv series is just right. The best of all the scandi noir crime dramas.

I am a huge fan of detective shows, so I was interested in seeing Wallander. This series is absolutely superb, as much as I did like the English series, this series(in Swedish) is much better, it is better plotted and has a more consistent tone. Wallander is often described as the "Swedish Morse", seeing this it is not hard to see why.

The scenery is wonderful, and the cinematography is atmospheric and skillful. The music is clever and never feels intrusive or too-much. The writing is always top notch, always moving, intelligent or goosebump-inducing, while the story lines are beautifully constructed with situations that are realistic and plausible and there are plenty of chilling and nail-biting moments. The direction is excellent constantly, while the acting is absolutely fantastic. Krister Henrickssen IS Wallander in my opinion, there are so many words to describe how good his performance is here and I would probably be here all night listing them. Johanna Sallstrom was wonderful too as Linda, and I too was shocked at her death, she was to me a very good actress, and I loved how hers and Kurt's relationship was developed, while the villains are very intriguing and chilling.

Overall, a superb and I think superior series. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The following refers to the 13 episodes of Season 2.

It sometimes seems as though the world is divided into two groups: those for whom subtitles pose no problem, and those for whom they do. If you fall in the former group, and you enjoy police-procedural dramas, then this series is for you. If you fall in the latter group, or if your comfort level plummets when you venture beyond BBC productions, then try the series with Kenneth Branagh and a supporting cast of English-speaking actors pretending to be Swedes - it's not as good, but it is in English.

I am a big fan of British police-procedural/detective series, and it was only because I was having trouble finding ones I had not seen that I turned to the Swedish-language "Wallander" series with Krister Henriksson in the lead role. I was impressed: it holds its own against the better British series.

Which actor you consider the definitive Kurt Wallander may depend on which version of the series you see first (assuming you see more than one). As much as I like Branagh and admire his work, he runs second to Henriksson in the Wallander Stakes. Indeed, the character of Wallander is not the same in the two series. The focus is much more on Wallander in the British series - a choice perhaps necessary to attract Branagh to the role - and he is portrayed as something of a loner, while in the Swedish version the members of Wallander's squad get significant screen time, and Wallander is portrayed more as an intelligent man with good instincts who is effective as a detective, a leader and a mentor. Branagh's Wallander is a man grappling with emotional issues, while Henriksson's comes across as reflective and world- weary but a man largely at peace with himself. I have not read the books on which the series is based, so I do not know which portrayal is truer to Mankell's character, but I do know I'd rather spend time with Henriksson's Wallander than with Branagh's.

The supporting cast is excellent, and, as indicated above, we are allowed to get to know their characters. The plots of the episodes held my attention, production values are high, and the locations and Swedish-speaking cast added to the verisimilitude. I especially liked how the relationship between Wallander and the prosecutor (an attractive divorcée who is also his neighbor) was handled. They are two adults of middle-age who develop feelings of mutual respect and affection (though they occasionally butt heads on the job), but their attraction is tempered by the baggage each carries from previous relationships. Their mating dance is cautious and restrained - very Scandinavian, one could say - and strikes just the right notes.

There is a great pleasure to be had in watching cinema in a language that you do not understand;an adventure and straining of your faculties in trying to derive the meaning of phrases that sometimes do resemble English, but not totally.The sub-titles help.Henriksson is the consummate actor, at once the father figure and also the failed father-man.I have always found a certain attractive sparsity in Swedish drama that contrast the more over-weighty and over-wordy cinema of British and American traditions,a leaner more trenchant quality.Sometimes quite a bit less is more, especially in convoluted and complex narrations that seemingly have no apparent solution but deliver more satisfaction and amusement in the final denouement. This is without a doubt much better that what was a very good English production.Intelligent acting,enticing cinematography,and story plots to match!