Review: Wallander: The Tormented Man – Wallander: The Worried Men (2013)

Directed by: Agneta Fagerström-Olsson | 98 minutes | crime, drama, thriller | Actors: Krister Henriksson, Charlotta Jonsson, Leonard Terfelt, Signe Dahlkvist, Marika Lindström, Sten Ljunggren, Peter Andersson, Ingvar Hirdwall, Len Cariou, Douglas Johansson, Mats Bergman, Fredrik Gunnarsson, Malena Engström, Sven Ahlström, Lo Kinippi, Anneli Marteli Marteli, Sten Elfström, Rolf Degerlund, Oskar Vretblad, Annika Kofoed, Alexander Öhrstrand

With “The Tormented Man,” Henning Mankell put an end to the phenomenon of Kurt Wallander. The stubborn inspector from Ystad brought the Swedish writer name recognition in more than thirty countries. The television films also turned out to be an incredible success. Even the BBC took the trouble to create its own series. The film adaptation of the last book appears to be the harbinger of a new series of episodes, but after that it is finally over.

When a fisherman fishes up the body of his own son after thirty years, an old incident from Swedish history is brought up. Everything has to do with the presence of a strange submarine in a lake in the 1980s. According to the fisherman some things were covered up. A political and military scandal is not far off.

After a clever and inviting opening, our favorite inspector shows up. However, the introduction of Wallander suggests that Mankell is serious about parting. In a drunken mood, the officer forgets his service weapon in a restaurant. It gives him a four-week suspension. Plenty of time to play with his granddaughter you would think. However, when daughter Linda’s father-in-law disappears, Wallander once again seizes his detective instincts to open a stinking jar that leads to the higher society in Sweden.

As the story progresses, you as a viewer realize that there is clearly something going on with Kurt Wallander. There is turbulence in his head. The sudden mental short-circuit that regularly overtakes him turns out to be a serious collision with life. No one spares time and Wallander realizes it all too well. This new fact gives the viewer a bad feeling. The state of the inspector is immediately the most interesting about this episode. The crime story quietly collapses halfway through due to a lack of dosage. We’ve already seen better episodes. But viewable is Wallander: The Tormented Man “certainly.

Jochem Geelen

‘Wallander: The Tormented Man’ will be screened from June 27, 2013 as part of Crime on Tour, with marathon performances in eighteen cities on the weekend of June 29 and 30, 2013 and will be released on DVD on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 (6 DVD box Wallander – Volume 5).