Movie of My Week: "Men Who Hate Women [Swedish]" (2009)
Sunday, September 19, 2010 at 12:01AM 
I know we supposedly must all wait on the Hollywood version to fully appreciate Stieg Larssons' book ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo") and to see his amazing character of Lisbeth Salander be realized in an Oscar-winning perf by some plucked-from-obscurity actress, but the Swedish original is absolutely fabulous, with a thoroughly Oscar-worthy performance by Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (just given the female counter-lead in "Sherlock Holmes 2"), who played the character in all three of the "Millennium" trilogy films. We definitely plan to see the other two Swedish originals, which also star a favorite actor of mine, Michael Nyqvist, although his character recedes quite a bit in the latter two novels.
Worth watching on the DVD is the interview with Rapace, who really transformed herself for the role.
What I liked about it is what I imagine most people liked about the book (which I haven't read): an intriguing pairing of sleuths, a "Twin Peaks"-like death of an innocent that must be investigated, and a well-paced process of discovery with great twists and turns and a very satisfying end.
I will probably read the original book on this basis.
The movie's Swedish title is "Men who hate women." The backstory on Larssons' need to create the character is a whopper: in his youth he witnesses the gang rape of a girl named Lisbeth by three friends and is haunted--for the rest of his life (he dies before his trilogy is published)--by his inaction at that moment, thus his character of Lisbeth is supremely empowered to defend herself through a set of unusual talents--on full display in this sometimes very disturbing movie.
Reader Comments (2)
Would be very surprised if you don't read the entire trilogy. The movie is a good adaptation of the book but a lot of interesting stuff gets left out. This series set in Sweden taught me a lot about my own country. Lots of brain food for horizontal thinkers.Those who like it might also like Daniel Suarez's Daemon & Freedom .
Appreciated Ebert's remark that this film uses real computer programs we recognize, counter to the general depictions of computers as magic boxes that can do anything.