Kenneth Branagh is not a natural character actor in the sense of the having the ability to transform yourself into someone with a different personality to ones own. There are elements of the core Kenneth which he brings to every role. In particular his vulnerability and capacity to feel deeply which he is able to communicate in whatever role he performs. As Wallander he has the experience of the master Krister Hennriksson to draw on as well as his own. It will be interesting to see if Branagh stays the course and completes the original Henning Mankell stories, and then moves on to the two series of 13 episodes of new stories created for the Wallander character and his daughter. Who has trained and become a police woman assigned to his team. The nine original novels have been translated into English. There is another story about Wallander’s daughter which has been translated and two other books which have not
The nine Mankell novels were made into cinema films between 1995 and 2007 and featured Rolf Lascar in the role of Wallander. It is these books which Kenneth Branagh is starring rather than the two 13 episode series with Krister Hennriksson brilliantly takes the role, so in fairness comparisons are difficult because the two actors are involved in different stories.
In 2008 Branagh made three 90 mins films - Sidetracked, Firewall and One Step Behind and this year there are three more, and I assume the final 3 will appear in in 2011 or 12, dependent on the other commitments of Branagh.
Last night’s episode - Faceless Killers has a conventional murder mystery as its main subject, the brutal killing of two elderly pensioners in their isolated rural homestead with two sub stories which in fact predominate. The first is race and the arrival of the new Europeans. When I visited Sweden in the early 1960’s it was proud of its reputation for welcoming foreigners, especially those of black skin but this was deceptive and applicable more to the cities and universities. Similarly Sweden had the reputation for being open and frank about sexual relationships and other social issues. Yet my superficial understanding and observation based on a two week visit but where I did get to talk to a range of people was of an essentially conservative country of contrasts. Alcoholic drink was discouraged with penalty taxation but in the country town close to where I was based for over a week. the young people with the use of cars would drive around picking up their friends and go off into the hills for drinking from illicit stills and sex on a nightly basis. It was the sixties though.
Faceless Killers was written in 1991 some 30 years after my visit and portrays a Sweden where everyone is being forced to face their attitude towards colour, race and foreigners. Shortly before Wallander is called to the murder scene he discovers that his daughter is sexually involved with a Swedish Syrian background doctor and he is surprised by his reaction. When a dying murder victim struggles to tell him of her killers Wallander is unsure if she does say foreigners or he has interpreted what she says because of the meal with his daughter and her new male friend. He is reluctant to share the information with his team and insists that the information is not disclosed for the time being to the media for fear of fuelling the public volatility over race and the seasonal encampments of migrant agricultural workers of which there are many. When the team fail to apprehend the killers, someone with access to his mobile warns that a migrant will be killed and a father is shot. Wallander feels guilty, about his reactions to his daughter and about mentioning what the woman has said and pursues a lead of someone who reports their car stolen while away on a visit, a vehicle which matches the description of one heard in the vicinity and where there is a little evidence of tracks and cigarette buts. Eventually this individual leads him to the killer, a member of right wing organisations who Wallander shoots to kill and which results in a youg policeman, traumatised by the sight of the two murder victims being the source of leaks about the investigation to the media. The murders are eventually tracked down, and are foreigners, travellers at the fair positioned in the main street outside the bank where about to bank their takings the two killers had seen the address of the farmer on the receipt for the 100000 Krns he had drawn on a quarterly basis to pay the woman who had fathered his child thirty year before against her inclination at the time. He had kept his former relationship and the payments secret from his wife and his daughter who lived away in a town, as well as the small fortune he had amassed from black-market dealings in the past which he had bank invested, living simply, neglecting his farm.
The second sub story which continues through several of the original novels is his relationship with his father, played in the BBC series by David Warner, a visual artist who is experiencing the early stages of Alzheimer’s and whose relationship with his son has always been difficult. The programme see his father taking himself to a residential establishment before he causes his wife and Wallander further problems. He resist Wallander’s attempt at physical reconciliation accusing him of always running away, when in fact Wallander has been called away and responds immediately to any pleas for help from his mother or his daughter in relation to the erratic and challenging behaviour of his father. The man has been discovered in his pyjamas with several of his canvasses rolled trying to make his way to Italy where he has recently been on holiday with his wife and son. He is rescued by migrant farm workers which adds to the mixture of instinct and thoughtful idealism about race and migration affecting Wallander’s behaviour. The programme ends with Wallander handing in his badge as he is about to be questioned following the death of the prime suspect.
Understandably the programme brought to the fore my relationship with my birth mother, her disintegration through the same disease as well as those final amazing three years when she transformed into someone content and loving and those final weeks when she met her death, fighting survival but with full Catholic grace and acceptance.
The Wallander which had just as great impact was the final part of third series of original stories created for the Wallander character and performed in Swedish with English sub titles. The story is a powerful one about sex crimes against pre teen boys and where one of the men involved turns out to be a senior police officer working under cover and whose work has successfully led to the capture and imprisonment of child sex offenders.
An 11 year old boy is found murdered and to have been drugged and sexually assaulted. The team are able to identify the sex criminal only to find him shot on arrival and where the prime suspect is the father of the murdered boy after it is realised the man did not commit suicide.
Wallander and his team are alerted that the way the boy was killed, first drugged and then hit on the back of the head after being covered in a towel, is identical to a previous killing where a young boy had first been sexually assaulted and where the convicted individual was still serving a life sentence after a decade in prison. Wallander’s daughter visits the man who convinces her that although he had committed sex crimes against boys he had not killed the child who was the victim of the conviction.
When they track down the their suspect to his home they encounter a neighbour who claims to know little of the man but says he was not the kind of person to kill. They first discover he was a policeman, who has an alibi for the night of the murder, visiting and staying with a female neighbour who has a pre teen child. Wallander and his daughter are concerned that the man did not disclose his former occupation and his comment that the man was not a killer but they are partly reassured when he reveals the neighbour has a summer property where they find the man dead and a photograph of what appears to have been a victim of sexual assault.
When Wallander’s daughter visits the man imprisoned for the earlier murder she learns that he knew the policeman from a joint visit to Thailand for a sex with boys. The daughter takes her concern to her superiors who dismiss the referral but later it emerges that the man is still a police officer working under cover tracking down perpetrators and with an impressive record of convictions. However we the audience and the Wallanders have our suspicions although the father of the murdered boy is the prime suspect for the murder except for the similarity with the killing a decade earlier, There is evidence that a red van was used of which there is no trace.
There is an important other dimension to this story which and takes the programme and the series to a higher level than most. What has made the series better than the individual stories from the original series and novels is the interaction between Wallander, his daughter and the male colleague in the team Stefan Lindman played by Ola Rapace. Much to the displeasure of Wallander his daughter and Stefan have had a relationship although friendship was always stronger that sexual passion.
Stefan has also been more hot headed that father and daughter although this is relative as all three are affected by their past as well as the nature of job. What emerges in this programme is that Stefan has been damaged by his childhood and that he was not only a victim of sexual assault as a pre teen boy but the perpetrator was the murdered sexual assailant in the case. Stefan is already the subject of an internal investigation for the assault of a criminal in the previous programme and is also carrying an untreated bullet wound in his shoulder. He is suspended and Wallander’s daughter is warned by her father not to have further contact with Stefan despite his appeals to her because of his suspected involvement in someway in the case under investigation. The programme reaches a climax when first the undercover policeman visits Stefan and offers to help him if Stefan reciprocates, after which Stefan is found dead to have shot himself and then the daughter who has mounted surveillance on the home of the undercover man sees that he brought the van from where it was hidden to his home and calls for help and waits as instructed until hearing cries which she investigates to find that the man has bludgeoned his mistress who has interrupted his attempt to remove evidence from the van and realised that he is the killer. The daughter is nearly overpowered by the man but manages to overcome and resist the strong temptation to seek instant justice after appeal from her father.
The captured man argues that he had tried to overcome his sexual inclination towards children and for every time he failed he had convicted ten others. The series ends as father and daughter consol each other on a beach while a young boy plays with his dog in the distance. The daughter has pointed out to her father than Stefan had wanted to talk to him but Wallander had been unwilling, unable to listen, something which she has accused her father of before in relation to herself. It was a brilliant ending to series although the subject is a distressing one
When I commenced publishing my writing on Myspace I had completed 1000 pieces on AOL Blogs, which sadly disappeared removing all the uploaded photographs at the same time. Originally I wanted to create a 101 site with 101 photos, lists friends and writings and at one time proposed to create a separate site for this purpose. During the first year I decided to go with the flow as I discovered the wide range of possible friends, those who were indirect links to people and interests of past experience, those of the present, and those who approached, mainly music and voice artists but also others, most from around the world and across the Atlantic in particular. It was towards the end of 2008 that I thought it would be interesting to try and match the number of friends with the number written pieces and set about attempting to do so in a structured way as part of the overall artwork project. Only once in the Spring of 2009 did I managed to match the number of writings to Friends and since then the gap has widened once more with 725 Friends at January 3rd and 850 pieces of writing. I have commenced to review the list of friends noting those who have departed with those added since the last review in March 2009. I begin with the first couple of hundred carried out todate. The list is alphabetical and not grouped according to interests and background significance which will be undertaken as the 1010 are approached sometime during this year or next as other writing and work requires more attention. There is a miscellaneous list at the commencement which has always fascinated me as to why. There 222 sites listed up to and including the letter D with 52 having come and gone. I have deleted one Friend previously accepted, during the past three years this February.
001 Acrylick added 2007
Mary 4 Music added Jan/Feb 2009 - not on review list
002 6th Art Outside previously Art Outside
003 Individual added early 2007
limited contact when added
004 Kimber Devil added 2009
Kelly Osboune added 2007 not on review
famous daughter -2
Missa added mid 2007 not on review-3
005 1thousand June 2007 accepted
006 you can added 2007 top forty
007 Fourth Dimension added 2008 top forty
The hostiles accepted 2007 not on review list
music group request 4
Astro act 2008 not on review list 5
008 Paul Martuarano music request
009 3 am Magazine 2009 added
010 Marco Lam artist 2008/9
011 Euphoria 2007 top forty
012 Tate Modern top forty
013 Z Top two sites 2007 top forty
014 Optika friend of Euphoria 2007
015 Gee Gee since 2007
016 VL early 2007 site appears defunct
017 Missingroof 2009 added
Power CD Launch added Jan Feb 2009 not on review 6
018 Mr E music request accepted 2008
019 Dream C 2007 early
020 Artworks Grafitti 2009 added
021 Bridget Bardot added Jan Feb 2009
022 Youngchiefbeoncall added 2009
023 Two Creative Roses Art added jan /feb 2009
Fear and Rain important 2007 was top 40 not on review
some contact early on 7
Malcolm S post nov 2008 8
The Journal Tyne Theatre 2008 9
Mr E Shah 9
022 Onyx since 2007
023 Jacob Himes Art 2009
Rook Jan Feb 2009
024 20 21 Visual Art Centre Jan Feb 2009
Platform com Jan Feb 2009 10
025 Tokyo Hot 2009
A
Aami June 2007 Request 11
A Spam post nov 08 not on review 12
026 Angie Mattson post nov 08
027 Aimee Mann post nov 08
028 Aleah before may 2007
029 Amy Winehouse 2009 added
Art outside before April 2008 now Miscel
Art parties Seatle query 2007 13
030 Active Entertain July Accepted
031 Artie Shaw added Jan Feb 2009
032 Atum Jan 2008
033 Allen Ginsberg post nov 08
034 Alyson Moyet post nov 08
Astro React autumn 2007 not on review 14
035 Atia monika June 18 2007
036 Anti Chamber July 1 2007
037 Alan Lomax added JanFeb 2009
Alan@ post nov 08 not on review 15
038 Aikia May request 2007
039 Adrian P Before May 2007
040 Alice before May 2007
041 Amy Marie post nov 08
042 American African Dec 2007
043 Artoony before May 2007
early contact was best friend some early contact
044 Alfred Hirchcock new batch film friend
045 Ana Popovic added Jan Feb
046 Alfio added 2009
047 Albert Camus latest writer 2007
048 Alejandro Erdmenger added 2009
049 Aaron Locke new late 2008
anti form 2007 dep sine Jan 2009
050 Aristotle from 2008 autumn additions
051 Aldous Huxley before may 2007
052 Ari Fuchs query when Dec 2007
053 Amy K Art Jan 2008
054 Andrew 2 late 2007
055 Armed Jabali added 2009
056 Art world post nov 08
Arabella before may 2007 16
057 Arts Council Jan 2008
058 Alan Before May 2007
Alan see August 2007 departed 17
Allan 2007 May/June 2007 18
All that Jazz mid 2007 dep since Jan 2009 19
059 Alison Moyet added Jan Feb 2009
Allelula status 2007 not on review 20
060 Amber July 20 2007 04
061 Andrea Bocelli added 2009
062 Allana requested by mid 2007
063 Annalee spring 2008
064 Arts Community added 2009
065 Anton Martins early 2008
066 Artaz July 1 2007 14
Amphitheatre August 2007 21
Angelicly before May 2007 Accepted 22
Annie departed 2007 23
Armada before May 2007 24
067 Art of Dzset new early 2008
068 Aiming for Sunday added 2009
069 ART added 2009
070 Anton Rubenstein added Jan Feb 2009
071 Anthony Salari added 2009
072 Anthony Hopkins new early 2008
073 Amnesty International 2009 added
074 America Got Talent added 2009
075 Andrew Morrison added Jan Feb 2009
076 Art and Artists 2009 added top 40
077 Robert Strazalko added 2009
078 Alex Piskin new autumn 2008
Johnny Stash added Jan Feb 2009 not at review 25
079 Adrianna Posta added 2009
080 Andrew added 2009.
B
081 Beethoven before may 2007
082 Bo Bice Feb 2008
Bagada Feb 2008 accepted 25
Benjamin august 2007accepted 26
083 Billy Bragg post nov 08
084 BC Beneke before May 2007
085 Barabraque 17.6 2007
086 Beccy before may 2007
087 Beth Fleenor added Jan Feb 2009
088 Blind Before accepted autumn 2007
089 Bad Girl Art post nov 08
090 Blind Lemon July 2007
091 Big D before May 2007
092 Bjork post nov 08
093 Bertrand R before May 2007 Top friend
094 Babacha before May 2007
Bambi before May 2007 27
095 By Polar August 2007
Benedetta post nov 08 not at review 28
096 Bradfordville Blues added Jan Feb 2009
097 Bette Ross before May 2007
098 Buddhist Inspirations added 2009
099 Behind Closed Eyes added 2009
100 Benn Mills before May 2007
101 Brian Blessed Before May 2007
102 Bix Beiderbecke Nov 2007
103 Buddahliscious before May 2007
104 Balgo
Bob French before May 2007 29
105 Barbara before May 2007 accepted
106 Billy Holiday before May 2007
107 Birdie query 2007
Beyond Dark July 1 2007 Accepted not on review 30
Brat Attack before May 2007 31
108 Boundless added 2009
109 Baltic added Feb 2008 top 40
110 Barack Obama added 2008 top 40
Big Bands 2007/2008 not on review 32
111 Barry Keenan Jan 2008 accept
112 Bridget Bardot summer 2008
113 Bessie Smith November 2007
114 Bratislava post nov 08
115 Beach South Shields Nov 2007
116 Blues Legacy Nov 2007 accepted
Born to please before may 2007request departed 33
Butt Naked august accepted 2007 self deleted 34
Broadgate autumn 2008 departed since Jan 2009 35
117 Beatrice Morabito added 2009
118 BBC audiobooksadded 2008
119 Bertolt Brecht post nov 08
120 Bliss added 2009
Ben Roberts Band Tour autumn add 2008 not at review 36
121 Beau Brummell post nov 08
Beau Diddley added 2009 Jan Febnpt at review 37
Butterflyreturned Top friends Jan Feb 2009 not at review 38
122 Ballad of added 2009
123 Bacca Levy added 2009
124 Brian Clare added 2009
C
125 Curious 2009 added
126 Coming of before May 07 accepted
127 Carlitto Cinema Italian autumn 2008
128 Chet Baker post nov 08
129 Christina post nov 08
130 Chazz before May2007 Gib
131 Charles Darwin Autumn 2998
132 Corrine Bailey before May2007 request
133 Carolyn M before May 2007 request
bought two of books of poetry
134 Caitlin P Before May 2007
135 Clare Means added 2009
136 Cyrille Aimee added 2009
137 Cosmic Gypsies Accepted Dec 2007
138 Clare Before May 2007
139 Corrina H before May 2007
140 Claudia D 2007
141 Coletta Zoe post nov 08
142 Camilla Boler added 2009
143 Carl Jung Before May 2007
Carol before May 2007 request self del 39
144 Christina Elenni before May 2007
145 Christina nov 2008
Crow mess post nov 08 not at review 40
146 Chavela Vargas added 2009
147 Chris Hyde 7 July Accepted
148 Charlie P Jan 2008 accepted
149 Chano Dominquez added 2009
150 Collective before May 2007
151 Cliff Jan 2007 accepted
152 Cot Life August 2007 accepted
153 Chucho Valdes added 2009
154 Cy before May Accepted
155 Cecil N De Mille autumn
156 Christina 3 Jan 2008 ed
Coralyn August 2007 41
Craigy before May 2007 42
157 Concha Bulka added 2009
158 Crissy Art autumn 2007
159 Carl G Jung post nov 08
160 Clint Eastwood autumn 2006
161 Charles Benavent added 2009
162 Cook n Snook autumn 2008
163 Cabell added 2009
164 Creative partnerships 2008 top 40
165 Cham deliv 2008
166 Casablanca post nov 08
disco autumn 2008
167 Concrete Kiss added 2009
168 Craig Bohemian Poet 2009
169 Charlotte Dawson 2009
D
Derek before April 2007 TF 43
170 Don’t be post nov 08
171 D J Greenuts Before April 2007
172 Dasco added 2009
173 Diana Krall post nov 08
174 Dark empire autumn 2008
175 Defected August 2007 accepted
176 Dalibor before may 2007
177 David Bowie before April 2007
178 David Madrid 55 accepted autumn2007
179 Dixie Chicks post nov 08
180 Damien Rice before May 2007
181 Detroit Women before April 2007
182 Dawn Zahra before April 2007
183 Dlugokecki jazz autumn 2008
184 Darkling P before April 2007
185 Dirty Princess 7 July2007 accepted
186 Dave Diamond autumn 2998
187 Danielle before May 2007
DJ Norte Before April 2007 not at review 44
188 Dana Gill autumn 2998
189 David E Merry autumn 2008
190 Daniel P post nov 08 new top 40
191 Dharmacist added 2009
192 Daughters before May 2007
193 Diana July 2nd 2007 Top of the tops
194 Dogfighters accepted autumn 2007
Deidrie New Mexico liked pic comments not at Rev 45
195 Daze Dec ? 2007 accepted
196 Deadly Night Serenade autumn 2008
197 Dr B Tutti Newcastle TF 2007 accepted
198 Django R post nov 08
199 Degas post nov 08
200 Drumshop added 2009
201 Double Zero post nov 08
Dod post nov 08not at review 46
202 Dollau FanKid 16.6 2007 accepted
203 Darlyne Cain autumn 2008
204 Dessie Muniz 2009 added
205 Debber Curtis 2009 added
206 Daddy I Love you 2009 added
207 Dees Sun August 2007 accepted
208 DJ Defuse before April 2008
209 Donatien 17.7 2007 accepted
210 Denise August 2007 accepted
211 Dame Judy Dench post nov 08
212 Duffy 2009 added
213 David Glass added 2009
214 Dora accepted 2007 autumn
David Blaze August 2007 departed 47
Debbie Cu before April 2007 departed 48
Delicious before April 2007 departed 49
Diana Con July 2007 departed 50
Die Walkurie 17.6 2007 departed 51
Dream X July Accepted 52
215 Daen Maracle Band added 2009
216 Directing Actors added 2009
217 De Chirico added 2009
218 De Campos Maris added 2009
219 Diego Rivera added 2009
220 Danny Ray added 2009
221 Destino added 2009
222 Daniel Pearl tribute added 2009
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