The White Lioness

I rather enjoy seeing foreign made shows set in South Africa just to see how badly they get it wrong. Now don't take this the wrong way I did enjoy the show but the way it was portrayed was a little off putting for someone who lives there.For example Kurt wandering around in Kayaletsha unmolested and even going into a pub.If you are a white guy alone good luck with that,not to say you would be killed or anything but you would know you aren't supposed to be there.Second thing was the obvious pro ANC dialogue through out especially in a city where there is not much love for the ANC. The most annoying of course was the part where the female Detective mentions that a white youth had attempted to shoot a black politician. Yes many black ANC politicians were killed during the local election but that was all done by people within the party removing their opposition and people not happy with who the party had elected to stand as Councillors.Not once was a white, Indian or Coloured person ever caught or accused of perpetrating those crimes. If you can overlook the biased politics in the show the rest of the story is great and well worth watching.

The book is about Wallander stumbling over a murder and various odd bits of evidence and sending a telex. He never leaves Sweden. There is no South African woman detective. In fact the book is extremely boring. A good seven chapters in the Africa section could be pulled and never missed.

What we have in this episode, however, is good entertainment. It is far better than the book. Far better.

The late novelist Henning Mankell was interested in the plight of immigrants. We see this over the course of the Wallander stories. Various immigrants of whatever nationalities being exploited. In one of the adventures the villain regularly goes over to Africa to exploit vulnerable people over there. Mankell was a humanist and frustrated and angry with the inequalities and exploitation prevalent in Africa. He himself had spent a lot of time in Mozambique.

This is the final series of the English language version Of Wallander. In this episode we see him jogging in Cape Town. Keeping fit is not something we have seen him do before. He is in South Africa attending a conference but son becomes involved in a disappearance of a Swedish lady. Her husband is agitated and blames the local police of dragging their feet.

Wallander finds out that she got lost due to an incorrect map and ended somewhere in the wrong time and the wrong place. This place being used for target practice for the possible assassination of a rising ANC politician who plans to halt lucrative tourist development schemes.

Kenneth Branagh as usual plays Wallander as subdued, even pained. He is now a grandfather but still has little reason to be cheerful. The series has always been slow burn like many of the Scandi crime dramas. There are some nice set pieces. A more intimate one was the party scene in a cop's house. It was very much like a small party I have been to, I felt Wallander's behaviour very relaistic just look at the way he washes his hands and drys them on a paper towel. I was alo impressed with the big crowd scene gathered for the political rally at the end of the episode, it is a kind of epicness usually found in cinema films. It also allows Mankell's thoughts to weave through the episode where even those politicians who fought against oppression can get corrupted.

I love the Wallander Books as well as both the Swedish & BBC television versions...up to this point. 'The White Lioness' is probably my favorite of all the Wallander books. So I was anxiously awaiting last nights Wallander on Masterpiece.

I was extremely disappointed with the end product. Branagh was as solid as ever, but he didn't have much to work with.

The screen adaptation was a shell of the great novel. Not the least bit suspenseful i can understand a perceived need to make it contemporary, not centering it on the possible assassination attempt to either de Klerk or Mandela......but it was so dumbed-down. Such a shame.

I hope another writer and production company like Yellow Bird take this story on and do it justice.

I have to say that Branagh's interpretation of the Swedish detective is quite bland. He seems to have little emotion, especially one of joy. The book character is interested in music and is able to laugh at times. While at a law enforcement conference, Kurt finds himself embroiled in South African politics after a white woman disappears. It is not as simple as finding out what happened to her. It involves cover-ups and reprisals. It also brings in the element of power. One normally thinks of the blacks versus the whites in this country and the issues related to Apartheid. But here, there is something involving a wealthy black man that hypocritically puts him in bed with the evil element. Kurt works with a young, black South African female cop. As is his wont, he launches himself into danger without carefully considering the consequences. The down side is the aforementioned lack of personality. A fair comment would be that taking the Swede out of Sweden sort of sterilizes everything. Not a bad offering, but kind of far afield.