“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a film which exists in two
versions, a Swedish one from 2009 and an American one from 2011. I just finished
watching the latter. I expected it to be a heavy
revision with all the action set in the United States. It isn´t. In fact, the two films are very similar. Both are set in Sweden, one of the main actors in
the US version is Swedish (Stellan Skarsgård) and many of the plot elements are
the same. The only anomaly is that the newspapers and TV broadcasts are in
English in the US version – despite the plot being set in Sweden!
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is extremely brutal. Brace yourself
for rape, torture and a sadistic serial killer who inherited the trade from his
father. The main character, borderline clinical feminist vigilante Lisbeth
Salander, is very unrealistic. She comes across as a kind of Marvel Comics super-hero,
mysteriously suspended in our reality. As behooves a film based on a Swedish
original, the consensual sex is very explicit. Often with said Salander taking
top position. A side note for American viewers: Lindholm, Furugård and Engdahl, three mysterious men mentioned at one point in this production, were Swedish fascist leaders.
The story is based on the earlier Swedish film, which in turn is based
on the novel “Män som hatar kvinnor” by the late Stieg Larsson. The
novel forms the first part of a trilogy, known as “Millennium”. All three
novels have been adapted for the movie screen in Sweden. Larsson could best be
described as a left-wing conspiracy theorist. The themes explored in his novels
(and in the films) include sexual abuse, upper class cults, Nazis, psychiatric abuse, “official”
corruption, organized crime and secret service conspiracies. It´s not a
positive view of Swedish (or global) society! Unfortunately, I never read the
novels, and therefore can´t compare them with the films. A difference I did notice is that
Lisbeth Salander is even more brutal in the Swedish films than in the American
adaptation!
Not one of my favorites, despite my “feminist” convictions. I think these productions border violent porn. But yes,
both the novels and the films have proved to be extremely popular, including
internationally. I wonder whether it´s the shock factor, or if people actually
reflect deeply over the implicit message…
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