The girl with the dragon tattoo – the price of perversion
‘Man Som Hvattar Kvinnor’ ( literal translation ‘Men who hate women’, International Title ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’) is sublime pessimism all through. Essentially, an insight into extreme darkness of human perversion comes in a riveting murder mystery garb. The engrossing and page-turner novel, on which the feature (TV series) is based on, is a most amazing work to come out in recent years. Steig Larsson’s, posthumously published, first of the Millennium Trilogy, TGWTDT gives us a unique and irresistible heroine in Lisbeth Salander. Much like Peter Hoeg’s Smilla Jasperesen, Lisbeth is strong, intelligent and further, keeping up with the trends, bisexual.
In isolation TGWTDT is the separate sad tales of three people. The relentlessly persecuted Lis Salander, unwittingly trapped Henry Blomkvist, and cruelly victimized Harriet Vanger. Obviously, a larger design brings them together. What is not obvious is the discovery and the revelations they come out with. Steig Larsson has embossed the thematic content of his work with definitive left inclinations. However, the tale in itself is more humanistic than anything else, with the connotations and implications drawing clear red lines. The characters are well grown version Astrid Lindgren child sleuths Pippi Longstocking and Kalle Blomkvist.
Lis Salander
Pippi Longstocking
A troubled young woman, she is as independent as they come, intelligent and differently indifferent. This hacker, known as WaSP, could very well be logged on to your computer this very moment. Misery revisits her when the government office informs her of a guardianship changes hands to the abominable Nils Bjurman. The sex-maniac and sadistic Nils Bjurman blackmails her with the past record of instability and violence, to incite sexual favors. When we realize that Lisbeth lacks strength, she sets the record straight, in a gruesome and emphatic fashion.
Her muse, though, is Mikael ‘Kalle’ Blomkvist. As syndicated, she researches Blomkvist for his details, hacking into his laptop, email accounts and wherever fate links her up to.
Mikael Blomkvist
Kalle Blomkvist
A left-wing investigative journalist, a wannabe detective, convicted for wrongful implications and accusations on a corporate, awaiting imprisonment. Blomkvist, is methodical, valiant and stubborn. A seasoned journalist, he has an eye for those things that others overlook. His integrity and daring often spells doom. Blomkvist, is commissioned by the millionaire industrialist, Henrik Vanger, to solve the case of his great-niece Harriet. Harriet is believed to have died 40 years ago, and Henrik is sure it was a murder. Now, in the face of inevitable death, Henrik wants to know the truth before his time is up.
Blomkvist is warned by many to not take up Harriet case. However, he starts in her trail, ‘What were you thinking, Harriet?’
Harriet Vanger
Beautiful and caring, this angel of another generation is an enigma. What is left of her is a diary, a bible and a few photographs. She grew up and lived in the Vanger Family island estate, connected via a bridge to the mainland. The family is Larssons representation of the Bourgeois, ‘a greedy bunch’, as Henrik introduces them to Blomkvist. There are even a few Nazi strongmen, Henrik’s brothers, in the family. Now, who had killed Harriet and why? Henrik could never guess, but he was somehow sure she was murdered indeed.
Harriet Vanger
None in the family is a suspect, Everyone is a suspect.
TGWTDT, henceforth, is a nailbiting ride into the wretched and morally downtrodden side of the respectable human being. On another layer, lies the tale of Mikael and Lisbeth. They play unlikely partners in this edge of the seat game. Even though, the detailed intellectual and emotional conflicts captured by Larsson in the book is missing, but Niels Arden Oplev, does incorporate just enough insight into their interesting camaraderie. Cleverly written, the journey takes us back to 1949 and travels all along, and continues till the chilling finale. As the mystery unveils, we realize with pain and anguish the animosity of the creature call Man.
As Lisbeth puts it ‘These are men who hate women’
Noomi Rapace is perfect as Lisbeth Salander. She embodies the strange and likeable, free and fearless creature that Lisbeth is. Micheal Nyqvist, who played Rolf in Lukas Moodyson’s ‘Together’, fits in very well as Blomkvist. Superb casting of Peter Andersson as Nils Burjman needs special mention. He provides us some intense moments of perverted lunacy. The adaptation, with sufficient contraction has come out well enough to be enjoyable for both who have either read the book or not.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Where i will get the dvd of this?
As of now its not available in India, am not sure if it ever be… you will have to request someone to bring it from Europe /catch it online/check in any festival that plays it later when this movie gains more popularity….
May be they will show it at MAMI.
There is a good possibility.. going by their extensive line up last year.. this one should fit in…