The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rarely do I go to a movie with any questions on what the deep socioeconomic subtexts are, what the filmmakers (or original author) is trying to say and if they pop up at all, they're not something I really pay much attention to. If I'm honest, I tend to find that rather tedious, I just want to be entertained. Not the case with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was such an interesting cinematic experience because I love a good crime-thriller, which this promised to be, but this time my friend and I were going because she had to see it for work. Of course my first thought upon hearing that was, "See movies for a job? Where can I get that gig?" But it wasn't quite like that. My friend is an academic and is the tutor for a Masters class where one of her students is studying female criminals. It's a feminism thing, don't ya know. I blurted to my friend, "Well that spoils it!" thinking by telling me it was about female criminals I already knew "who done it". Thankfully that wasn't the case at all. So we dissected the deeper meanings on the way home and I quite enjoyed it. But what a ride this film was!

It was absolutely disturbing, creepy, hard to watch, fascinating, suspenseful, brutal and surreal. Set in Sweden, journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired to find out what happened to a missing heiress from 40 years ago, delving into a very dysfunctional family dynasty which makes the Kennedys look like the Waltons. His unlikely ally is a computer hacker; a hardened young woman, Lisbeth Salander, who has a hard-edge attitude and you know she is a survivor. She is so defiant, so strong, you know it was borne out of awful circumstances. We witness, in one of the most difficult parts of the movie, sexual violence carried out by someone in power over her. We watch her suffer and we somehow know she'll get through this (or possibly get her revenge), as she had all the other times that have gone before in her life marred with violence and abuse. Turns out there's a big dragon tattoo on her back. AHA!

Turns out the English marketing changed the name of it. Its actual translation was Men Who Hate Women. And that is definitely a theme in the book but I think if they had marketed it in the US like that, we'd have thought, "Ooooh, is that another romantic comedy staring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson"?

You'll like it if: 

• you cheered for Thelma and Louise when they shot the rapist, or sort of cheered for Michael Douglas' character in Falling Down.
• you like to have your stomach twisted around for a couple good solid hours.
• you like to hear Swedish (at one point there is a TV journalist talking which did kind of remind me of the Swedish Chef from The Muppets, but other that that, I didn't even notice it was in another language).
• feminist issues interest you, or how women are depicted in film
• you have access to a good cup of tea (or something stronger) after to return you to normal.

You won't like it if:

• you can't stomach violence (I don't mean shoot'em up violence, I mean graphic and often sexual violence).
• subtitles get on your nerves.
• you hate close-ups, the filmmaker seeks out so much from the actors' faces and eyes, but it worked for me.
• tend to dream about movies you've seen, I wouldn't want to incorporate this into my dreams, let me tell you.
• you don't like sitting down for more than 2 hours. The movie is a good 2 1/2 hours long but it didn't feel overly long. It took its time, building stories and characters without hurry.

 The lead character, Mikael Blomkvis, was mesmerizing. I'd definitely say he's in the "sexy-ugly" category.

Watch the trailer HERE.

Apparently there are 3 books in this "series"; the 3rd of which the author, Stieg Larsson,  was still writing when he unexpectedly died. I'm now reading book number 2 and man, the tension!!! Brilliant stuff.

I think...it's excellent.

See you on Twitter! @whatvalthinks.

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