--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu wrote: > > It's an okay show, however the US version was written by the same folks > who did the Danish version. They also got more budget to work with. A > lot of the dialog was even the same. I liked the US version too.
Taste is relative, and yours is no relative of mine. :-) More seriously, I can imagine that there must have been "good parts" in the US version. It's just that I couldn't get past the heavy-handed Americanism of it to give a shit about any of the characters, so I stopped watching after episode 2. Most were caricatures, not characters, especially those supposed to be Mexican. If the original writers did this, I simply have to assume that they knew as little about both America and Mexico as most Americans would know about Sweden and Denmark. > It's hard to say who the culprits are in distribution. It could be the > Danish network itself that didn't want to let go of the rights. But > then FX might have demanded as part of the deal it couldn't be released > in the US. Stupid because only a small percent of US viewers, those of > us who like indie and foreign film, would want to watch a show with > subtitles. Sometimes these shows like the original version of "The > Killing" are available via DVD but they are Region 2 encoded (not to > mention overpriced) on Amazon. Some of us have players that are region > free. Indeed, it's hard to tell where the fault lies in things like this. Wherever it lies, I hold those parties responsible for keeping folks in the US who are interested in seeing the original of a good series from doing so. This "It's good, so we've gotta remake it" mindset demonstrates IMO not only a poverty of marketing imagination (negating those of us who don't mind subtitles), but a poverty of creative imagination as well. They literally can't think up any good ideas of their own (or not enough of them, at any rate), so they rip off ideas that have been popular elsewhere. I still refuse to see a Harvey Keitel movie after the butchering he gave to the lead character in the terrible American remake of "Life On Mars." That has to rank at the top of my Worst Remakes Of All Time list. As for DVD players that have been hacked to be region-free, it's IMO the only way to go if you are a film lover. Many classic films are no longer available in Region 1 releases, so if you want them, you have to go elsewhere. And "out of the box," your player won't play them, because lawyers made the manufacturers set them to Region 1 Only. In many cases, all that is required to do it for many models is to enter a specific sekrit code (to set it to Region 0, or "Don't bother checking") on the unit's remote control. The sekrit codes themselves can be found for most devices on the Net by Googling "region free." About half of my remaining DVDs are Region 1 (America), but the rest come from all over the world, and I've never had the least bit of trouble playing them on my hacked Samsung player. > On 12/10/2013 01:04 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ultrarishi wrote: > > > > > > This was an outstanding series. It's a shame that we have to resort > > to things like bit torrent to view awesome television like this in the > > US. These moronic IP, trade pacts, and just plain old Hollywood > > nonesense prevents us from getting quality programming until too late. > > > > > > I was very much pleased by both seasons and totally left wasted by > > the ending of Season 2. > > > > > > */Thanks so much for weighing in on this. I sometimes wonder if anyone > > has gotten to see any of these Euro classics I report on from time to > > time. It is a damned shame that the marketeers keep them from being > > seen in their original versions. > > > > As I've said, I gave up on the American ripoff version after two > > episodes. It's not that Dianne Kruger is a bad actress, just that she > > simply is not in Sofia Helin's league. And the writers of the US > > version managed to take everything subtle about the original series > > and turn it gross and in-your-face and...well...American. > > > > Watching the original is a very different experience. The writing, the > > music, the photography (with its images of the bleak but /**/beautiful > > Danish and Swedish landscapes and cityscapes) -- all are superb. > > > > But it's really the acting that makes this series so formidable. I can > > say without hesitation that I have probably not seen "duo acting" of > > this caliber since the early days of Ingmar Bergman working with Liv > > Ullmann and Max Von Sydow. As noted before, Sofia Helin is beyond > > amazing as Saga Noren, portraying one of the most complex and touching > > characters I've ever seen onscreen. > > > > But her work is complimented by Kim Bodnia as Martin Rhode. Martin is > > as generally outgoing (but with problems) as the Danish cop as Saga is > > distant and unemotional (but with even more problems) as the Swedish > > cop. The bond that forms between the two of them is tangible, and > > touching. Martin becomes literally Saga's only friend, because she is > > emotionally incapable of forming relationships with anyone else. And > > that, of course, leads to the feeling you had at the end of season 2. > > > > The Wikipedia page on Bron-Broen (WARNING: _Avoid_ the Plot sections > > for each season if you plan to see the series, because they're full of > > spoilers) says that a season 3 is in the works. I can hardly wait... > > > > > > > > > > /* > > > > >
