By Michael Dean Benton
Stieg Larsson’s source novel for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the first part of his Millennium trilogy) and the Swedish film adaption of it (Niels Arden Opley, 2009: 152 minutes) have enjoyed similar international success. Larsson, posthumously, was the second highest selling author worldwide in 2008, and this weekend the first film adaption of his trilogy is poised to crack the $100 million level (a significant mark for a Swedish film). Hollywood has also taken notice and a remake is set for 2012 with David Fincher directing; reportedly a slew of stars are jockeying to be cast in the two lead roles.
There are two important contextual facts that can help in understanding the international popularity of the book and the film. First, like the film’s lead male character Mikael Blomkvist, Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist actively reporting and editing an independent publication on contemporary Swedish far-right movements. Larsson’s life was threatened by neo-fascist thugs and the Swedish police took these threats serious enough to have him put under police protection. Mysteriously, just as his Millennium trilogy was poised for great success (a series he intended to expand to 10 books), he dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of 50 on November 9 of the past year. Significantly, Larsson’s sudden death occurred on the anniversary of the German night of terror known as Kristallnacht, infamous as the beginning of the Nazi “final solution” for the Jews of Europe. Understandably, this fueled rumors that Larsson was somehow eliminated by the far right movements whom he was seeking to expose.
Second, the book and the film were originally titled, internationally, The Men Who Hate Women. The titles for the English translation of the trilogy, however, all start with “The Girl…” seemingly a standard form for Anglo series mysteries. The original Swedish title reflects the monstrous nature of the men who commit the crimes in the story. They are sadistic sexual predators who represent a fascist impulse. They seek to control their marginalized victims through the channels of corporate capitalism and the faceless bureaucracy of a state apparatus that favors the surface appearances of respectable patriarchy. I was not surprised that I met a handful of women in the lobby before and after the film that were avid fans of the source books and were eager to watch the film. Through her retributive justice, the film’s leading female role, the five-foot, punkish, anti-social hacker Lisbeth Salander, could become an identifiable character for those that have felt powerless and or have been abused. Furthermore, the actions of Salander are not gratuitously violent; her rage and actions instead are the result of direct provocations.
It is in these two main characters, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) the honest crusading journalist broken by the system, and Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), the anti-social hacker betrayed by the same system, that we can identify the broad appeal of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You have both the older character (Blomkvist) trying to fight for justice within the boundaries of the society’s legal framework and the much younger, and one could claim less naïve, outlaw character who recognizes the absurdity of a system set up to favor the powerful every step of the way. One of the ongoing conflicts between the two centers on Blomkvist’s inability to recognize that his alerting the police whenever the two are in trouble is actually a threat to the more marginal Salander. On the one hand Salander is every bit as ethical as Blomkvist, but on the other hand, the legal system of her society is not set up to recognize her struggle for autonomy and the abuses she suffers at the hands of her so-called protectors.
I have purposefully avoided major plot details in this review because this is a crackling good thriller that engages the viewer throughout. To give away key aspects of the plot would ruin the experience. The film combines equal measures of procedural mystery and thrilling action to good effect. I would recommend that you catch the Swedish film, rather than wait for the 2012 American version, for a few main reasons. The American film will no doubt rest upon the star power of one or two major stars. The Swedish film’s cast is relatively unknown to the average American filmgoer. This actually makes for a good mystery thriller in that we are not constantly distracted from the story by the celebrity fetishizing of American films. If David Fincher does direct the film it may retain its honest realism (think Zodiac), but I get the feeling that this remake is being targeted as the launching of a potential cash cow film franchise—and the American version will no doubt suffer due to the typical proliferation of too many cooks messing with the soup.
The film will be showing at the Kentucky Theater until June 14.
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