The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
I am not usually one for thrillers—something about the pounding heart and adrenalin-pumped body that leaves me feeling weak and vulnerable. I am one of those extra-sensitive types who feel everything deeply and prefer laughs and happy endings so I can walk away feeling lifted, lighter.
From this Swedish movie’s opening credits the tension started building, heightened by dramatic music, shadowy shots clipped, dark and inviting intrigue. I knew I had to pay attention—here began a double narrative hung on two highly interesting characters—the exiled journalist and the genius hacker.
The story begins with the results of a libel case against middle-aged journalist Mikael Blomqvist (Michael Nyqvist). He is wrongly convicted following his investigation and report in the Millenium publication into an industrial group who, we discover, set him up in order to avert him from the real story they were trying to hide. Disgraced, he leaves Millenium and takes a job for the wealthy head of an old Swedish dynasty, Henrik Vanger, who wants the 40-year-old case of his missing 16-year-old great-niece Harriet looked into once more. The island on which the family estate is located was host to a family board meeting the day Harriet disappeared, and evidence suggests to Henrik that someone on the island was responsible. Here we meet our leading lady, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a young goth-punk genius hacker with a traumatic past, who while tracking Blomqvist discovers his new case and cracks a clue that had him stumped. She joins forces with him and lends her expertise to tackle the puzzle. This woman is staunchly compelling and beautiful, which makes her parallel story all the harder to bear as the violence gets darker, meaner, and sicker. The Swedish title, Män som hatar kvinnor, translates as “men who hate women”, something I came to realise that the entire mystery fully encompassed in the most disturbing ways.
Based on the first in the Millenium trilogy published posthumously by Stieg Larsson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is set in a harshly desolate but beautiful rural Swedish winter and progresses through to resolution in summer. The chilling landscapes and eerie darkness mirror the frosty list of themes: mystery, murder, sadism, Leviticus, sexual violence, remnant Nazi activity, and the wider themes of twisted family secrets, corruption and betrayal.
Until the end I did not feel either main character was safe from sabotage or worse as the hunters become the hunted, and in the entire 2 hours and 32mins not a minute was wasted. Thankfully, there was also some romance, revenge, justice and fierce determination, and a tear was indeed jerked. I was hooked, intrigued, shocked, revolted. I felt more tension and fear than I have in a long time and it is not something I enjoy; however the direction, brilliant acting and climactic second half left a big impression.
This is not an easy watch, but I think it’s worth the discomfort for those who can cope with brutal violence and a bit of gore.
Hannah Campbell
