Monday 4 January 2010

1851 Wallander and Friends myspace

Kenneth Branagh is not a natural character actor in the sense of the having the ability to transform yourself into someone with a different personality to ones own. There are elements of the core Kenneth which he brings to every role. In particular his vulnerability and capacity to feel deeply which he is able to communicate in whatever role he performs. As Wallander he has the experience of the master Krister Hennriksson to draw on as well as his own. It will be interesting to see if Branagh stays the course and completes the original Henning Mankell stories, and then moves on to the two series of 13 episodes of new stories created for the Wallander character and his daughter. Who has trained and become a police woman assigned to his team. The nine original novels have been translated into English. There is another story about Wallander’s daughter which has been translated and two other books which have not

The nine Mankell novels were made into cinema films between 1995 and 2007 and featured Rolf Lascar in the role of Wallander. It is these books which Kenneth Branagh is starring rather than the two 13 episode series with Krister Hennriksson brilliantly takes the role, so in fairness comparisons are difficult because the two actors are involved in different stories.

In 2008 Branagh made three 90 mins films - Sidetracked, Firewall and One Step Behind and this year there are three more, and I assume the final 3 will appear in in 2011 or 12, dependent on the other commitments of Branagh.

Last night’s episode - Faceless Killers has a conventional murder mystery as its main subject, the brutal killing of two elderly pensioners in their isolated rural homestead with two sub stories which in fact predominate. The first is race and the arrival of the new Europeans. When I visited Sweden in the early 1960’s it was proud of its reputation for welcoming foreigners, especially those of black skin but this was deceptive and applicable more to the cities and universities. Similarly Sweden had the reputation for being open and frank about sexual relationships and other social issues. Yet my superficial understanding and observation based on a two week visit but where I did get to talk to a range of people was of an essentially conservative country of contrasts. Alcoholic drink was discouraged with penalty taxation but in the country town close to where I was based for over a week. the young people with the use of cars would drive around picking up their friends and go off into the hills for drinking from illicit stills and sex on a nightly basis. It was the sixties though.

Faceless Killers was written in 1991 some 30 years after my visit and portrays a Sweden where everyone is being forced to face their attitude towards colour, race and foreigners. Shortly before Wallander is called to the murder scene he discovers that his daughter is sexually involved with a Swedish Syrian background doctor and he is surprised by his reaction. When a dying murder victim struggles to tell him of her killers Wallander is unsure if she does say foreigners or he has interpreted what she says because of the meal with his daughter and her new male friend. He is reluctant to share the information with his team and insists that the information is not disclosed for the time being to the media for fear of fuelling the public volatility over race and the seasonal encampments of migrant agricultural workers of which there are many. When the team fail to apprehend the killers, someone with access to his mobile warns that a migrant will be killed and a father is shot. Wallander feels guilty, about his reactions to his daughter and about mentioning what the woman has said and pursues a lead of someone who reports their car stolen while away on a visit, a vehicle which matches the description of one heard in the vicinity and where there is a little evidence of tracks and cigarette buts. Eventually this individual leads him to the killer, a member of right wing organisations who Wallander shoots to kill and which results in a youg policeman, traumatised by the sight of the two murder victims being the source of leaks about the investigation to the media. The murders are eventually tracked down, and are foreigners, travellers at the fair positioned in the main street outside the bank where about to bank their takings the two killers had seen the address of the farmer on the receipt for the 100000 Krns he had drawn on a quarterly basis to pay the woman who had fathered his child thirty year before against her inclination at the time. He had kept his former relationship and the payments secret from his wife and his daughter who lived away in a town, as well as the small fortune he had amassed from black-market dealings in the past which he had bank invested, living simply, neglecting his farm.

The second sub story which continues through several of the original novels is his relationship with his father, played in the BBC series by David Warner, a visual artist who is experiencing the early stages of Alzheimer’s and whose relationship with his son has always been difficult. The programme see his father taking himself to a residential establishment before he causes his wife and Wallander further problems. He resist Wallander’s attempt at physical reconciliation accusing him of always running away, when in fact Wallander has been called away and responds immediately to any pleas for help from his mother or his daughter in relation to the erratic and challenging behaviour of his father. The man has been discovered in his pyjamas with several of his canvasses rolled trying to make his way to Italy where he has recently been on holiday with his wife and son. He is rescued by migrant farm workers which adds to the mixture of instinct and thoughtful idealism about race and migration affecting Wallander’s behaviour. The programme ends with Wallander handing in his badge as he is about to be questioned following the death of the prime suspect.

Understandably the programme brought to the fore my relationship with my birth mother, her disintegration through the same disease as well as those final amazing three years when she transformed into someone content and loving and those final weeks when she met her death, fighting survival but with full Catholic grace and acceptance.

The Wallander which had just as great impact was the final part of third series of original stories created for the Wallander character and performed in Swedish with English sub titles. The story is a powerful one about sex crimes against pre teen boys and where one of the men involved turns out to be a senior police officer working under cover and whose work has successfully led to the capture and imprisonment of child sex offenders.

An 11 year old boy is found murdered and to have been drugged and sexually assaulted. The team are able to identify the sex criminal only to find him shot on arrival and where the prime suspect is the father of the murdered boy after it is realised the man did not commit suicide.

Wallander and his team are alerted that the way the boy was killed, first drugged and then hit on the back of the head after being covered in a towel, is identical to a previous killing where a young boy had first been sexually assaulted and where the convicted individual was still serving a life sentence after a decade in prison. Wallander’s daughter visits the man who convinces her that although he had committed sex crimes against boys he had not killed the child who was the victim of the conviction.

When they track down the their suspect to his home they encounter a neighbour who claims to know little of the man but says he was not the kind of person to kill. They first discover he was a policeman, who has an alibi for the night of the murder, visiting and staying with a female neighbour who has a pre teen child. Wallander and his daughter are concerned that the man did not disclose his former occupation and his comment that the man was not a killer but they are partly reassured when he reveals the neighbour has a summer property where they find the man dead and a photograph of what appears to have been a victim of sexual assault.

When Wallander’s daughter visits the man imprisoned for the earlier murder she learns that he knew the policeman from a joint visit to Thailand for a sex with boys. The daughter takes her concern to her superiors who dismiss the referral but later it emerges that the man is still a police officer working under cover tracking down perpetrators and with an impressive record of convictions. However we the audience and the Wallanders have our suspicions although the father of the murdered boy is the prime suspect for the murder except for the similarity with the killing a decade earlier, There is evidence that a red van was used of which there is no trace.

There is an important other dimension to this story which and takes the programme and the series to a higher level than most. What has made the series better than the individual stories from the original series and novels is the interaction between Wallander, his daughter and the male colleague in the team Stefan Lindman played by Ola Rapace. Much to the displeasure of Wallander his daughter and Stefan have had a relationship although friendship was always stronger that sexual passion.

Stefan has also been more hot headed that father and daughter although this is relative as all three are affected by their past as well as the nature of job. What emerges in this programme is that Stefan has been damaged by his childhood and that he was not only a victim of sexual assault as a pre teen boy but the perpetrator was the murdered sexual assailant in the case. Stefan is already the subject of an internal investigation for the assault of a criminal in the previous programme and is also carrying an untreated bullet wound in his shoulder. He is suspended and Wallander’s daughter is warned by her father not to have further contact with Stefan despite his appeals to her because of his suspected involvement in someway in the case under investigation. The programme reaches a climax when first the undercover policeman visits Stefan and offers to help him if Stefan reciprocates, after which Stefan is found dead to have shot himself and then the daughter who has mounted surveillance on the home of the undercover man sees that he brought the van from where it was hidden to his home and calls for help and waits as instructed until hearing cries which she investigates to find that the man has bludgeoned his mistress who has interrupted his attempt to remove evidence from the van and realised that he is the killer. The daughter is nearly overpowered by the man but manages to overcome and resist the strong temptation to seek instant justice after appeal from her father.

The captured man argues that he had tried to overcome his sexual inclination towards children and for every time he failed he had convicted ten others. The series ends as father and daughter consol each other on a beach while a young boy plays with his dog in the distance. The daughter has pointed out to her father than Stefan had wanted to talk to him but Wallander had been unwilling, unable to listen, something which she has accused her father of before in relation to herself. It was a brilliant ending to series although the subject is a distressing one

When I commenced publishing my writing on Myspace I had completed 1000 pieces on AOL Blogs, which sadly disappeared removing all the uploaded photographs at the same time. Originally I wanted to create a 101 site with 101 photos, lists friends and writings and at one time proposed to create a separate site for this purpose. During the first year I decided to go with the flow as I discovered the wide range of possible friends, those who were indirect links to people and interests of past experience, those of the present, and those who approached, mainly music and voice artists but also others, most from around the world and across the Atlantic in particular. It was towards the end of 2008 that I thought it would be interesting to try and match the number of friends with the number written pieces and set about attempting to do so in a structured way as part of the overall artwork project. Only once in the Spring of 2009 did I managed to match the number of writings to Friends and since then the gap has widened once more with 725 Friends at January 3rd and 850 pieces of writing. I have commenced to review the list of friends noting those who have departed with those added since the last review in March 2009. I begin with the first couple of hundred carried out todate. The list is alphabetical and not grouped according to interests and background significance which will be undertaken as the 1010 are approached sometime during this year or next as other writing and work requires more attention. There is a miscellaneous list at the commencement which has always fascinated me as to why. There 222 sites listed up to and including the letter D with 52 having come and gone. I have deleted one Friend previously accepted, during the past three years this February.


001 Acrylick added 2007

Mary 4 Music added Jan/Feb 2009 - not on review list


002 6th Art Outside previously Art Outside

003 Individual added early 2007
limited contact when added

004 Kimber Devil added 2009

Kelly Osboune added 2007 not on review
famous daughter -2

Missa added mid 2007 not on review-3


005 1thousand June 2007 accepted

006 you can added 2007 top forty

007 Fourth Dimension added 2008 top forty

The hostiles accepted 2007 not on review list
music group request 4

Astro act 2008 not on review list 5

008 Paul Martuarano music request

009 3 am Magazine 2009 added

010 Marco Lam artist 2008/9

011 Euphoria 2007 top forty

012 Tate Modern top forty

013 Z Top two sites 2007 top forty

014 Optika friend of Euphoria 2007

015 Gee Gee since 2007

016 VL early 2007 site appears defunct

017 Missingroof 2009 added

Power CD Launch added Jan Feb 2009 not on review 6

018 Mr E music request accepted 2008

019 Dream C 2007 early

020 Artworks Grafitti 2009 added

021 Bridget Bardot added Jan Feb 2009

022 Youngchiefbeoncall added 2009

023 Two Creative Roses Art added jan /feb 2009

Fear and Rain important 2007 was top 40 not on review
some contact early on 7

Malcolm S post nov 2008 8
The Journal Tyne Theatre 2008 9
Mr E Shah 9

022 Onyx since 2007

023 Jacob Himes Art 2009

Rook Jan Feb 2009

024 20 21 Visual Art Centre Jan Feb 2009

Platform com Jan Feb 2009 10

025 Tokyo Hot 2009



A


Aami June 2007 Request 11

A Spam post nov 08 not on review 12


026 Angie Mattson post nov 08

027 Aimee Mann post nov 08

028 Aleah before may 2007

029 Amy Winehouse 2009 added

Art outside before April 2008 now Miscel

Art parties Seatle query 2007 13

030 Active Entertain July Accepted

031 Artie Shaw added Jan Feb 2009

032 Atum Jan 2008

033 Allen Ginsberg post nov 08

034 Alyson Moyet post nov 08

Astro React autumn 2007 not on review 14

035 Atia monika June 18 2007


036 Anti Chamber July 1 2007

037 Alan Lomax added JanFeb 2009

Alan@ post nov 08 not on review 15

038 Aikia May request 2007


039 Adrian P Before May 2007

040 Alice before May 2007

041 Amy Marie post nov 08

042 American African Dec 2007

043 Artoony before May 2007
early contact was best friend some early contact

044 Alfred Hirchcock new batch film friend

045 Ana Popovic added Jan Feb

046 Alfio added 2009

047 Albert Camus latest writer 2007

048 Alejandro Erdmenger added 2009

049 Aaron Locke new late 2008

anti form 2007 dep sine Jan 2009

050 Aristotle from 2008 autumn additions

051 Aldous Huxley before may 2007

052 Ari Fuchs query when Dec 2007

053 Amy K Art Jan 2008

054 Andrew 2 late 2007

055 Armed Jabali added 2009

056 Art world post nov 08

Arabella before may 2007 16

057 Arts Council Jan 2008

058 Alan Before May 2007

Alan see August 2007 departed 17

Allan 2007 May/June 2007 18

All that Jazz mid 2007 dep since Jan 2009 19

059 Alison Moyet added Jan Feb 2009

Allelula status 2007 not on review 20

060 Amber July 20 2007 04

061 Andrea Bocelli added 2009

062 Allana requested by mid 2007

063 Annalee spring 2008

064 Arts Community added 2009

065 Anton Martins early 2008

066 Artaz July 1 2007 14

Amphitheatre August 2007 21
Angelicly before May 2007 Accepted 22
Annie departed 2007 23
Armada before May 2007 24

067 Art of Dzset new early 2008

068 Aiming for Sunday added 2009

069 ART added 2009

070 Anton Rubenstein added Jan Feb 2009

071 Anthony Salari added 2009

072 Anthony Hopkins new early 2008

073 Amnesty International 2009 added

074 America Got Talent added 2009

075 Andrew Morrison added Jan Feb 2009

076 Art and Artists 2009 added top 40

077 Robert Strazalko added 2009

078 Alex Piskin new autumn 2008

Johnny Stash added Jan Feb 2009 not at review 25

079 Adrianna Posta added 2009

080 Andrew added 2009.


B

081 Beethoven before may 2007

082 Bo Bice Feb 2008

Bagada Feb 2008 accepted 25

Benjamin august 2007accepted 26

083 Billy Bragg post nov 08

084 BC Beneke before May 2007

085 Barabraque 17.6 2007

086 Beccy before may 2007

087 Beth Fleenor added Jan Feb 2009

088 Blind Before accepted autumn 2007

089 Bad Girl Art post nov 08

090 Blind Lemon July 2007

091 Big D before May 2007

092 Bjork post nov 08

093 Bertrand R before May 2007 Top friend

094 Babacha before May 2007

Bambi before May 2007 27

095 By Polar August 2007

Benedetta post nov 08 not at review 28

096 Bradfordville Blues added Jan Feb 2009

097 Bette Ross before May 2007

098 Buddhist Inspirations added 2009

099 Behind Closed Eyes added 2009

100 Benn Mills before May 2007

101 Brian Blessed Before May 2007

102 Bix Beiderbecke Nov 2007

103 Buddahliscious before May 2007

104 Balgo

Bob French before May 2007 29


105 Barbara before May 2007 accepted


106 Billy Holiday before May 2007

107 Birdie query 2007

Beyond Dark July 1 2007 Accepted not on review 30

Brat Attack before May 2007 31

108 Boundless added 2009

109 Baltic added Feb 2008 top 40

110 Barack Obama added 2008 top 40

Big Bands 2007/2008 not on review 32

111 Barry Keenan Jan 2008 accept

112 Bridget Bardot summer 2008

113 Bessie Smith November 2007

114 Bratislava post nov 08

115 Beach South Shields Nov 2007

116 Blues Legacy Nov 2007 accepted

Born to please before may 2007request departed 33
Butt Naked august accepted 2007 self deleted 34
Broadgate autumn 2008 departed since Jan 2009 35

117 Beatrice Morabito added 2009

118 BBC audiobooksadded 2008

119 Bertolt Brecht post nov 08

120 Bliss added 2009

Ben Roberts Band Tour autumn add 2008 not at review 36

121 Beau Brummell post nov 08

Beau Diddley added 2009 Jan Febnpt at review 37

Butterflyreturned Top friends Jan Feb 2009 not at review 38

122 Ballad of added 2009

123 Bacca Levy added 2009

124 Brian Clare added 2009






C



125 Curious 2009 added

126 Coming of before May 07 accepted

127 Carlitto Cinema Italian autumn 2008
128 Chet Baker post nov 08

129 Christina post nov 08

130 Chazz before May2007 Gib

131 Charles Darwin Autumn 2998

132 Corrine Bailey before May2007 request

133 Carolyn M before May 2007 request
bought two of books of poetry

134 Caitlin P Before May 2007

135 Clare Means added 2009

136 Cyrille Aimee added 2009

137 Cosmic Gypsies Accepted Dec 2007

138 Clare Before May 2007

139 Corrina H before May 2007

140 Claudia D 2007

141 Coletta Zoe post nov 08

142 Camilla Boler added 2009

143 Carl Jung Before May 2007

Carol before May 2007 request self del 39

144 Christina Elenni before May 2007

145 Christina nov 2008

Crow mess post nov 08 not at review 40

146 Chavela Vargas added 2009

147 Chris Hyde 7 July Accepted

148 Charlie P Jan 2008 accepted

149 Chano Dominquez added 2009

150 Collective before May 2007

151 Cliff Jan 2007 accepted

152 Cot Life August 2007 accepted

153 Chucho Valdes added 2009

154 Cy before May Accepted

155 Cecil N De Mille autumn

156 Christina 3 Jan 2008 ed

Coralyn August 2007 41
Craigy before May 2007 42

157 Concha Bulka added 2009

158 Crissy Art autumn 2007

159 Carl G Jung post nov 08

160 Clint Eastwood autumn 2006

161 Charles Benavent added 2009

162 Cook n Snook autumn 2008

163 Cabell added 2009

164 Creative partnerships 2008 top 40

165 Cham deliv 2008

166 Casablanca post nov 08
disco autumn 2008

167 Concrete Kiss added 2009

168 Craig Bohemian Poet 2009

169 Charlotte Dawson 2009



D

Derek before April 2007 TF 43

170 Don’t be post nov 08

171 D J Greenuts Before April 2007

172 Dasco added 2009

173 Diana Krall post nov 08

174 Dark empire autumn 2008

175 Defected August 2007 accepted

176 Dalibor before may 2007

177 David Bowie before April 2007

178 David Madrid 55 accepted autumn2007

179 Dixie Chicks post nov 08

180 Damien Rice before May 2007

181 Detroit Women before April 2007

182 Dawn Zahra before April 2007

183 Dlugokecki jazz autumn 2008

184 Darkling P before April 2007

185 Dirty Princess 7 July2007 accepted

186 Dave Diamond autumn 2998

187 Danielle before May 2007

DJ Norte Before April 2007 not at review 44

188 Dana Gill autumn 2998

189 David E Merry autumn 2008

190 Daniel P post nov 08 new top 40

191 Dharmacist added 2009

192 Daughters before May 2007

193 Diana July 2nd 2007 Top of the tops

194 Dogfighters accepted autumn 2007

Deidrie New Mexico liked pic comments not at Rev 45

195 Daze Dec ? 2007 accepted

196 Deadly Night Serenade autumn 2008

197 Dr B Tutti Newcastle TF 2007 accepted

198 Django R post nov 08

199 Degas post nov 08

200 Drumshop added 2009

201 Double Zero post nov 08

Dod post nov 08not at review 46

202 Dollau FanKid 16.6 2007 accepted

203 Darlyne Cain autumn 2008

204 Dessie Muniz 2009 added

205 Debber Curtis 2009 added

206 Daddy I Love you 2009 added

207 Dees Sun August 2007 accepted

208 DJ Defuse before April 2008

209 Donatien 17.7 2007 accepted

210 Denise August 2007 accepted

211 Dame Judy Dench post nov 08

212 Duffy 2009 added

213 David Glass added 2009

214 Dora accepted 2007 autumn

David Blaze August 2007 departed 47
Debbie Cu before April 2007 departed 48
Delicious before April 2007 departed 49
Diana Con July 2007 departed 50
Die Walkurie 17.6 2007 departed 51
Dream X July Accepted 52

215 Daen Maracle Band added 2009

216 Directing Actors added 2009

217 De Chirico added 2009

218 De Campos Maris added 2009

219 Diego Rivera added 2009

220 Danny Ray added 2009

221 Destino added 2009

222 Daniel Pearl tribute added 2009

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