By Adam Ruhl
The Spider
This Danish mini-series had just so much for me to love
about it. I was expecting that all the series in the ‘International Mystery’ product line might be from more or less the same part of the genre, but this is not the
case. The Spider is set in 1949 Copenhagen and its tone is closer to Chinatown
than anything else. All the feel of the era and genre of a great Crime Noir
story is there.
The Spider follows young journalist Bjarne Madsen (Jakob
Cedergren) as he investigates the post-WW2 black market in Denmark. Right away
the setting is something I've never seen portrayed before on screen. 1949 Denmark is
country still putting itself back together, dealing with rationing, trying to
rid itself of former Nazi collaborators, and emerge from black marketing and
corruption of the war years. Bjarne is the thorn in the side of the official
crime reporter, H.C. Vissing (Lars Mikkelsen), a crusty veteran newsman who
thinks Bjarne is biting off more than he can chew. The mystery gets going when
a pair of bodies are pulled from the ocean with no faces and the two reporters
begin to suspect how far the corruption might go.
This story is immediately captivating, with lots of great suspense
and style. If you’re a fan of the old fashioned crime thriller, this is a can’t
miss. It’s got beautiful women, murder, gangsters, jazz, fight scenes, and
sometimes all five at once. There’s also some fascinating political commentary
that American audiences might not be acquainted with. Danish Families with communist, former-Nazi, and social democrat members makes for a very interesting dinner table. On the whole, I highly
recommend The Spider.
The series ran in Denmark in 2000 and is just now getting
here but it looks great, even for a DVD only release. It runs six 1- Hour
episodes, and they are almost a full hour each. Perfect for a Saturday marathon.
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