White Wall

Surprisingly good. All dialectal embarrassments aside, this had me wanting more from the first episode.

So far only saw one episode but it is intriguing and filming was pretty good. Don't speak a word of Swedish nor can I read Finnish so pretty much guessed at what was happening thru visuals. The only English is of course spoken by the stereotypical, greedy management which I could have guessed that without hearing a word. Looking forward to watching further episodes. It's better than a lot of the virtue signaling, politically correct garbage coming out of Hollywood these days. I read some of the other reviews and noticed some of the themes that are prevalent in Sweden are at least normal drama. Be sure to write those idiots that you are dissatisfied and maybe, with enough complaints, will change. Here in the states I have come to boycotting all the crap that tries to tell me how I should think.

This is unfortunately another case of a potentially interesting idea that is poorly executed. The basic plot has been described by others and will not be repeated here.

The show suffers from some of the maladies common to Swedish films and TV shows. The main one here is the acute lack of proper pacing. The show just plods along, seemingly with little thought of what is important to the plot and what is not. There are unimportant sub-plots and characters who contribute little or nothing and just make the story drag painfully at times. A third or more of the footage should have been left on the cutting-room floor.

There are also the "traditional" attempts at social commentary that, once again, contribute little. The company managers are suitably spineless and/or single-mindedly result oriented. And as always in Swedish shows, there are marital problems and unhappy children - also quite unnecessary to the story.

The acting is OK without being remarkable. There is the normal and unfortunate Swedish tendency for the acting to be overly dramatic, though, and everyone is very serious most of the time, staring fixedly at each other.

On the plus side, the locations are very good and the cinematography excellent.

The makers were trying really hard to keep things Swedish, with just a smattering of 'token' English! You have to admire them for featuring the real Sweden as a backdrop. And yes they were also very 'inclusive', even with an 'savant' Aspergers kid, who seems to know it all. But so far tastefully restrained, and not as self-flagellatory as the other Viking dystopian dramas. The Swedes have always had this ambivalence towards technology, necessary for cold-climate survival, but reproachable nonetheless. There's something very Freudian about it all - eggs, tunnels and the repression of 'stuff' deep down inside a mine.

Great story. Of course there are unrealistic elements but nothin completely insane. I like when the progress is slow and if you are looking for much action this is nothing for you: