La lionne blanche

there is lot to be said for Swedish made for TV film from the 90s. this particular one is certainly doomed by a rather good novel which it is based on. the screen writing follows the novel rather loosely but still tries to incorporate all the locations and characters of the original source and that is where this film does not work. i am not sure if there was a lot of material shot that ended on the cutting room floor or if the script is actually the choice. either way - it makes the plot complicated and not so very straight without adding excitement. some good writing has gone into this but maybe it would have been better to remove it even further from the novel. the editing especially lacks in craftsmanship. performances are rather good, however. one does get the impression though, that filming partly in cape town seemed to be a nice option for everybody. since Mankell is a very! famous author in scandinavia, one cannot help thinking that the team was under the impression that everything they produce is going to be a success.