THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

During one brief respite from work this past weekend, my wife and I snuck away to the movie theater to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

It’s a satisfying—-if slightly over-long—-Swedish thriller. 

Swedish thriller.

It’s a curious film in some ways. 

Among other things, there’s a lot of raping in it.

Lots of Nazis and raping.

An unusual amount. 

Like, three out of four men in the film are either Nazis and/or rapists. 

And possibly murderers. 

My wife and I both noted that the rape scenes were unusually long. 

We couldn’t help but think that an American-made film would’ve had shorter rape scenes.

Instead, there were graphic, 7-minute-long rape scenes, and things of that nature.

It’s an edgy movie. 

Entertaining. 

A bit implausible, story-wise.

It is based, of course, on the bestselling novel by the late Stieg Larsson.

In its native Swedish tongue, the book and its film adaptation are known by this title:  Män som hatar kvinnor.

Translation:  Men Who Hate Women.

So American publishing executives presumably liked the book and saw its commercial potential, but then decided that Men Who Hate Women was a title that did not lend itself to big sales. 

So instead they called it The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of the story, is a sexy (and sexually ambiguous) young woman with a tortured soul.  

She is played with convincing brio by an actress named Noomi Rapace. 

Lisbeth has a sexy dragon tattoo on her back.  

Also:  She is repeatedly abused by men who hate women. 

I haven’t read the book yet.

I sort of want to now, just to see what all the fuss is about.

These books have been wildly successful, and they paint a portrait of Swedish culture that is in many ways strangely menacing, which strikes me as a little odd. 

But maybe not that odd.