Review of Wallander: Sidetracked

Sidetracked, an episode of a new British-style detective series, features a killer acting like an Indian.

Wallander--Sidetracked--2008Kenneth Branagh stars in the first of three feature-length versions of Henning Mankell's best-selling detective novels. If (like us) you're not familiar with the series, then you're in something of a minority--well in the rest of Europe anyhow, where they've sold around 25 million copies. There's even a Wallander Tour in the real town of Ystad.

The first in the trilogy running on BBC1 over three Sunday nights (and then out on DVD after), Sidetracked, introduces Kurt Wallander--divorced, living alone, trying to get on with his dad and daughter--no quirky character traits like Monk or Life here--just the stuff of life, played out realistically. That's not to suggest that it's boring, or soapy--far from it--just that it's played in the realm of the real as much as possible, which is what makes it work so well (even when it's a gruesome case involving scalping, three dead men in apparently unrelated cases, and a young woman who sets herself on fire).Wallander: Sidetracked"Sidetracked," the first of three stories, doesn't waste time on introductions, as both the seaside town of Ystad and its champion, Branagh's Kurt Wallander, encounter a teenage girl who engages in a grim act of self-immolation in a stunningly vivid field of crops. Indeed, while the template for the show is familiar, its vibrant color palette and atmospheric settings (with kudos to "Slumdog Millionaire's" Oscar-winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle) neatly distinguish it from just about everything else on television.

A series of hatchet murders involving prominent citizens follows, and it's perhaps best to ignore the high body count relative to the town's modest size, which threatens to de-populate Ystad before they finish adapting the nine books. The bottom line is that Wallander grows increasingly agitated trying to identify a common link to the killings, even as he grapples with the arrival of his grown daughter (Jeany Sparks) and a strained relationship with his aging father (the wonderful David Warner).

Wallander's colleagues barely register in the first movie, and there's little point in fretting about the particulars of the whodunit--or, for that matter, the Swedish setting, since the British cast wisely dispenses with the pretense of adopting accents, letting the striking scenery and names establish the venue.Wallander: Sidetracked / Firewall / One Step Behind (2009)Giving a rare and welcome television leading role to Kenneth Branagh, Wallander is about a Swedish detective who is brought to the screen in three 90-minute adventures based on the hugely popular novels by Henning Mankell. Branagh takes the title role, and he's Wallander's leading asset. His performance is grumpy and downbeat, and he skillfully underplays his role. It's a terrific performance from a very strong actor. Around him, mysterious and shocking crimes are taking place, and it's his job to get to the bottom of them. He's aided by a good, if unspectacular, supporting cast, although nods must go to Sarah Smart and Tom Hiddleston. Filmed on location in Sweden, yet still more British in feel than you'd perhaps expect, Wallander nonetheless is intelligent and at times gripping drama. It's well made, too, with some stylish directional choices that may isolate some viewers, but do enhance the production. There's clearly been a lot of thought and planning involved here, and it pays dividends."Wallander: Sidetracked"--ThoughtsThe story itself was interesting, as an American, seeing how the murders involve scalping. Too often I forget that folks beyond America's borders enjoy learning about the Native Americans and their culture and history.Wallander--Sidetracked, Firewall, One Step BehindDespite the dismal landscape and cardboard-cutout characters, this show works. The end may be predictable, but it is, in its way, just as unnecessary as everything else. This is all just a stage, a setting in which Branagh can perform, and he delivers a performance of subtle intensity rarely seen on TV, British or otherwise.Rob's review

I concur with these reviews. Wallander is an unspectacular but solid detective series--worth a look.

Let's examine the Native aspects of Sidetracked. We see the murderer sneak up on the victims and cleave their skulls with a hatchet. Investigating the crimes, Wallander discovers that the killer has removed a bit of skin and hair from each victim.

Wallander talks to a drunk old reporter who fills him in on the Native aspect:WALLANDER:  We think he was scalped.

REPORTER:  Scalped? Jesus.

WALLANDER:  Some bizarre kind of trophy, I suppose.

REPORTER:  Maybe.

WALLANDER:  Yeah.

REPORTER:  Maybe not.

REPORTER:  It can also be a sacrifice. Isn't that the legend? The Indian brave offers up the scalp as a gift to free another soul. A soul which has been violated.

REPORTER [lifts a glass for a toast]:  The warrior. The brave.I've never heard about scalping being an act of sacrifice, but who knows? I supposed it could be in some cultures.

When Wallander finally identifies the killer, he finds a closet full of trophies: scalps, deer antlers, and a statuette of an Indian "brave" shooting an arrow. As with the murders, these are shot with jerky, blurred camera movements, so you can't see the items clearly.

Wallander tracks down the killer, whose face is smeared with mud like warpaint. We learn that the killer's motivation was indeed to free his sister's soul.

Scalping a bad idea

It's always nice to see a Native theme in a movie or TV show. But even with the reporter spinning scalping as a noble act of sacrifice, it's still a one-note portrait of Indian culture. It's stereotypical because it doesn't portray Indians as much except scalpers seeking revenge.

Author Henning Mankell published the book Sidetracked in 2002, so it's not as if this is a "classic" novel from 25 or 50 years ago. By this time, there must've been dozens of stories featuring criminals or ghosts seeking revenge with a tomahawk. So Mankell's story is clichéd as well as a stereotypical, and there's not much of an excuse for that.

I guess the TV show didn't want to change the source material. But Mankell would've been better off coming up with a novel method of trophy-taking. Have the killer take a finger or an eye or something. Have him burn the body part as an act of sacrifice. Make up a psychological story about sacrifice rather than using a (possibly made up) Native story.

Oh, well. For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Natives.