From the opening scene of Scandi-noir mystery Blackwater, there is a sense of foreboding as the camera pans slowly over a fast-flowing river in the heart of the stunning Swedish wilderness.
It’s a deliberate move to show nature’s power and indifference to people, according to Karin Arrhenius, who co-wrote Blackwater with Maren Louise Käehne.
“The grey sky, the screaming bird, the violent water,” she tells , “we may think we stand above nature, that we have cultivated and civilised the world, but the wild is still out there. And it plays a big part in the story.”
Blackwater is a complex examination of a double murder and its aftermath through two separate timelines: one in 1973 when the crimes took place and another in 1991 as the still-unsolved case reemerges to haunt a number of families in a small village.
The Swedish-language six-parter – adapted from the best-selling novel by Scandinavian crime writer Kerstin Ekman – begins in 1991 when we meet Annie Raft, a middle-aged schoolteacher who goes to sleep every night with a rifle by her bed. She is played by acclaimed actress Pernilla August (who played Darth Vader’s mother in the first two Star Wars movies).
Why does Annie Raft (Pernilla August) keep a rifle close at hand? Credit: Johan Paulin
We start to learn through a number of flashbacks about the terrible events that caused her to become so fearful that she fills the need for a gun.
In 1973, Annie (portrayed by Pernilla’s real-life daughter, Asta) arrives on a bus from Stockholm in the northern Swedish village of Svartvattnet with seven-year-old Mia (Alva Adermark) during the midsummer festival. She’s there to meet her boyfriend, Dan (Christian Fandango Sundgren), and start a new life at a nearby hippie commune in the middle of the wilderness.
Back then: Asta Kamma August as the younger Annie, with Alva Adermark as Mia. Credit: Joe Maples
As the police launch their homicide investigation and the list of possible suspects grows, we learn more about the seemingly peaceful commune where Annie and Mia plan to live with their adopted hippie family.
“We’re not a cult,” Annie assures an inquisitive Lill-Ola during their drive.
“What are you then?” he replies.
However, it’s apparent that the commune has its own secrets while the sinister and controlling leader, Petrus (Magnus Krepper), gives off serious Charles Manson/David Koresh vibes.
Annie and Mia aren’t the only people in the town affected by the unfolding events.
Firstly, there’s the local doctor Birger Torbjörnsson – played in 1991 by multiple award-winning Swedish actor Rolf Lassgård, and in 1973 by Sven Boräng – who gets caught up in the gossip and innuendo surrounding the case. At the time of the murders, he’s in a fractured relationship with anti-logging activist wife Barbro (Liv Mjönes). She is protesting in the forest when the murders take place.
Birger Torbjörnsson (Rolf Lassgård) and Mia (Alba August). Credit: Joe Maples
By 1991, Barbro is no longer in the picture and Birger appears to have grown close to Annie, although the exact nature of their relationship is unclear at first.
Then there’s sensitive teenager Johan Brandberg (Liam Gabrielsson Lövbrand), who is constantly bullied by his redneck half-brothers and thuggish father. After being tormented once too often, he thumbs a lift from a strange woman and flees to Norway at the same time the crimes are committed. To some, his behaviour makes him an obvious suspect.
The return of Johan (now played by Erik Ehn) in 1991 to the town stirs up emotions for some locals, most notably Annie when she learns he’s now dating Mia (portrayed by another of Pernilla’s daughters, Alba).
Things become more complicated when, soon afterwards, Annie vanishes from her home…along with her rifle.
Pernilla says she greatly enjoyed working with her daughters on the set, , “I understand that you think from the outside what it might be like to work with your children, but we are professional. When we put on those clothes, we start talking about how to solve this scene we're working on.”
Blackwater is a slow-burn affair, gradually peeling back layers of the story as we jump back and forth in the timelines. There are numerous suspects and plenty of hidden agendas that will have viewers guessing who is the guilty party… and then guessing again.
And, of course, there is the breathtaking scenery, which acts as a beautiful backdrop to all the death and drama.
Meanwhile, Ekman says she’s thrilled that after decades of frustration, her book has finally been successfully adapted to the small screen by Käehne and Arrhenius.
"Many have wanted to film this story,” she reveals in a recent , “but I [hadn’t] received a good script before [them].”
She was also very happy to get such accomplished actors as Pernilla August and Rolf Lassgård to join the cast: “Could it get any better?”
Blackwater is streaming now at SBS On Demand:
Stream free On Demand
Blackwater
series • Crime drama • Swedish
MA15+
series • Crime drama • Swedish
MA15+
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