Lasermannen

I just finished watching this new TV-series recently shown on Swedish television. I'm no huge fan of Swedish drama i must admit. The budget is usually low and the actors are the ones we see in every movie and series, again and again. But this is something else altogether.

The story of "Lasermannen" (The Laser Man) is one that everyone in Sweden knows. He was the madman that used a rifle with a laser sight, as well as a revolver, to shoot several immigrants in Sweden in the early 1990's. He wounded several and killed one. After a long search he was finally apprehended and is still serving his life sentence in prison. This three-part series show his life from younger years up to the point of the murders and his subsequent capture.

The approach here is rather different from the standard approach in Swedish drama. Instead of using the standard "A-list" actors they have chosen to use a mix of seasoned character-actors and less well-known names. The footage is mostly grainy with washed-out colors giving it a documentary feel, which suits the story well. The lack of Hollywood-envy feels liberating. The choice of actors was excellent in my opinion. Especially David Dencik as John Ausonius, Lasermannen himself, is excellent. I had never seen him before myself and the fact that he was rather unknown lets him slip comfortably into the role of this madman. And he feels eerily genuine. The rest of the cast also perform well and most of the time the series manage to keep a genuine feel in dialog as well as individual details. Also they dare to show the victims and the genuine tragedy that Ausonius created through his actions. Something that is easier to forget that one might think when the focus is on the madman and not on his victims. The fact that they manage to portray this as well adds another layer of emotion to the story.

"Lasermannen" is interesting on several levels. It's interesting as a view on the failure of the Swedish integration policy. It's interesting as a study of a disturbed individual and finally also interesting as a study of the Swedish police that are given a rather harsh treatment here. A well deserved harsh treatment i might add, considering the facts of the case. As a document of Sweden in the early 90's this works very well. The background of the case is integrated nicely into the story, as are theories of his motives as well as answers he himself has given in interviews done after his capture.

Very recommended viewing.

8/10.

This film / miniseries is likely the best most well-made film Sweden has produced in modern times. It depicts the real story of deeply disturbed serial-shooter John Ausonius (perfectly acted by David Dencik, who talks and looks so much like the real killer that it's scary, and plays the role in such a intense and eerie way), who hunted and shot immigrants in Sweden, and robbed more than 20-30 banks in Stockholm. The film shows the Swedish police work, society, it's politics and media, and so on, in the 80's and early 90's. It's a intense and very dark tragic story, but an important one. The cinematography by Hoytema is pure perfection too. The way the film builds up the eerie and antisocial psychological profile of the murderous Ausonius is just brilliant. If you can find this one with English subtitles; watch it!

In the early 1990's a person shoots immigrant males in the Stockholm area. Some of the witnesses describe a red dot of light. The shooter was using a gun mounted with a laser sight.

The series, in three feature-length parts, recounts the true events leading up to the arrest of one of Sweden's most wanted criminals.

We see the danish actor, David Dencik -- a relatively fresh face in Sweden, portray Ausonius, a person totally devoid of the tools for proper social contact. It's agonizing to see Ausonius feeble attempts at interacting with other people. The moment the other person fails to match Ausonius' own picture of the world, a venomous hate boils up and over. Dencik's portrayal is very finely balanced. Especially as his role is in three parts.

Firstly, Ausonius' time as a student before his shooting spree, along with a troubled time in the army during conscription.

Secondly the period during the actual shootings/bank robberies.

And thirdly, scenes from his exclusive interviews with Gellert Tamas, a journalist on who's book this series is based.

These three parts are threaded, so that a more complete portrait of Ausonius' psyche can be painted. The patching of the scenes is a way of driving home the fact that Ausonius' behaviour has grown out of a troubled background coupled with a twisted view of his surroundings. Rather that showing the events purely chronologically, the filmmakers have opted for a style as if one has a book and needs to turn back to a earlier part to be able to study a point in time more closely.

The other main thread in the series is the painstaking police-work. The actual police hunt is a plodding affair. Because of the fact that Ausonius' crimes (the "indiscriminate" shooting of members of the male public with darker skin colour than Ausonius' own and a long string of bank robberies) were seemingly random, seemingly perpetrated by different people, the police took a very long time to focus on him.

When, in the third programme, the police receive a psychological picture of the culprit, another policeman (working on the murder of Olof Palme) remembers an earlier suspect from that investigation. The results of the profile match Ausonius psychological and active history exactly.

From that moment on, Ausonius' days at large were numbered. Ausonius' meticulously deranged plans finally become his own trap as police, needing more evidence of his activities, are tailing him and are present when he comes running out of a bank after the last of his robberies.

Lasermannen is a superb series. It oozes a creepy, realistic quality. The tired detectives, frustrated by yet more weird shootings and crazy, irrational behaviour to follow-up. Bewildered people that knew Ausonius and had to deal with him in person. Along with the victims themselves, the horribly unfortunate people shot at random and the people caught up in his other criminal behaviour.

Sad, sickening events that helped create a nasty climate in Sweden at that time.

Grim, of course, but it is also a high point in Swedish television production.

John Ausonius, one of Sweden´s most notorious criminals, is portrayed in this TV series. Ausonius used a rifle with a laser sight. Hence his nickname became "the Laser Man". His targets were primarily immigrants. Ausonius was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ausonius must, in my opinion, be a rather tormented man with a heavy past. I think that David Dencik, in this TV series, portrayed Ausonius in that way. I can see the pains, the sorrows and the clumsy attempts at relationships, romance, love and affection.

I would have liked to see more of Ausonius´ family life, especially when it comes to his father. But all in all, I would recommend this TV series, especially for those who find Swedish crimes interesting.