The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a bit of a curious film to me; I saw the original Swedish film during 2010's summer and found it to be a completely engrossing thriller, with a mystery that got more perverted the deeper you looked into it. Audiences, whether they like to admit it or not, are obviously fascinated by anti-heroes, extreme rebels, social outcasts, which can only begin to explain why the late Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy (as it has been dubbed) is such a huge hit over here in the states.

Certainly this tale is tailor made for its director, David Fincher, who revels in tales of social misfits and anti-system messages. His Fight Club is one of the ultimate "stick it to the man" films, ending in the destruction of America's financial sector. And I'm sure he was drawn to the material, if only so he could bring the character of Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) to life. She is the ultimate Fincher heroine, with piercings, tattoos, and wacky hairdo, not to mention an independent streak that sets her apart from almost any other heroine in film.

Daniel Craig also stars as the film's other protagonist, Mikael Blomkvist, editor of Millennium magazine (where the trilogy no doubt draws its name), who has fallen under a scandal and lost his life savings because of an unfounded allegation he made against a fellow magazine mogul. Labeled with libel, he is whisked to northern Sweden where, on a remote island populated by a wealthy but estranged family, he is asked to investigate the murder of one of their members some forty years ago.

Lisbeth and Mikael stay separated for over an hour of the film as he begins uncovering a string of possibly related women murders, and she has an unfortunate run-in with a piggish social worker who will release Lisbeth's money to her in exchange for favors. Eventually they collide and the film focuses fully on the murders, though one wonders how much this will connect with Harriet.

The original title of the book and Swedish film is Män som hatar kvinnor which translates to Men who hate women. It's an apt title, considering all the content, though a film with that heading would never get recognition in the states (or a book for that matter) and the retitling is a bit more intriguing (though we never do learn the significance of that dragon tattoo). The film has an incredibly brutal rape scene and sex scenes that would have earned an independent feature an NC-17, but such is the Hollywood system that of course this skated by. Maybe its a sign of maturity on the MPAA's half that we can handle more extreme content, but then I remember Shame has an NC-17 rating.

But here's the thing: the film is almost identical to the 2009 Swedish one. Oh sure, it has a bigger budget, a more assured director, and a fantastic cast, not to mention a dynamite opening credits scene with a cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song that was quite the hit back when the trailer first dropped. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who won Oscars for their unique and haunting score for The Social Network (2010) return as composers, but it feels like more of the same. Their style of music certainly lends itself well to the unease that surrounds this film, but at the same time I couldn't help but think back to The Social Network and its score.

There is also a structural problem with the film. It opens with Mikael's problems at Millennium, then introduces with the missing girl Harriet, then introduces with the string of women murders. Then each one of these threads is resolved from the murders on back, but the film suffers in the resolution between Mikael and his foes at the rival magazine. It's a protracted denouement that drags on and on after Harriet's plot is resolved, when we have little interest in what's going on.

The film just feels pointless. The Swedish version was thrilling and engrossed me, and this version felt like the same thing but in English. It's a sign of how lazy we are that we won't see the foreign language version because we don't like reading our movies (though anyone who got through the book should have no problem with subtitles). I feel even Fincher reflects this notion: he doesn't feel like he's trying here, like he simply watched the Swedish one and said, "Well, they did a good enough job, so I'll just make the same version in English, make millions, and call it day." Which I don't fault him for.

The performances are great, especially Rooney Mara as Lisbeth, but I also feel like they aren't too different from their Swedish counterparts. If I had to pick who was better, Noomi Rapace or Rooney Mara, I would have to go with Rapace because Mara's performance is clearly modeled on hers.

Anyone who doesn't know the material will surely be entertained, but anyone coming back to see if anything new was done will be disappointed. It's as pointless as watching Let Me In, the remake of Let the Right One In. At least when Seven Samurai was remade in America, they changed the story to cowboys so it felt fresh (though American samurais are something that wouldn't work anyway). I don't mind a remake if it does something new with the material, or approaches the subject from a different angle. True Grit was hailed as superior to the John Wayne version, though that also may be because forty years means something new can be done with the material.

I'm just tired of these pointless remakes. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Which reminds me of Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho. He was asked to remake it, so he did. There was very little wrong with that film, and it never felt dated, so Van Sant figured it would be the easiest thing to do. He had the right idea.

La Grande Illusion (1937)

A lot has to be said for a movie that imagines people as real people; that portrays enemies as really allies forced into conflict by the clashing interests of their motherlands. When you think of prison escape movies, you imagine the round-up of prisoners planning the escape, and the ruthless, cruel guards and their warden. Much of this is true in 1994's Shawshank Redemption, but one must also remember that that prison contained actual convicts, not prisoners of war.

The French POWs are treated rather fairly. When Capt. de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and Lt. Maréchal (Jean Gabin) are first captured, they are treated to a nice dinner by the somewhat formidable Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), and then sent to a prison camp where the guards are cordial and where rules aren't necessarily strict. Any POW caught escaping is shot on sight, of course, but they are not, otherwise, treated inhumanely.

Of course, the POWs still want to be free; it is a common need of the human soul to have freedom, and so the soldiers do all they can to escape the confines of their prison. Upon Maréchal's first night in prison he discovers his flat mates have been tunneling, little by little, a way out, dumping the excess dirt outside during gardening duties. A funny scene takes place as a Frenchman, burrowing out, loses consciousness due to lack of oxygen, and when he is retrieved is fed cognac. When the liquor touches his lips, he reawakens and cradles the bottle as if he were a child drinking milk.

And the movie has a clever sense of timing. On the night of the proposed escape, a camp change is made, and flat mates are separated. Another touch of humanity is displayed by the guards as they load the POWs onto trucks to venture to a new location: "May you see your wives soon." It affirms that no one likes war, and most wars are not a necessity; people would rather coexist in peace, though it is ironic that most humans are unable to do so.

The movie has a goofy air about it, and one particular moment that is both somewhat silly and rather poignant comes when the men receive costumes to put on a show with. They catch wind that women wear their hair short now ("It's like sleeping with a boy," the cognac-loving Frenchman exclaims), and then pause as they witness one of the men dressed up in a woman's dress. Everyone falls silent. It highlights the repression that goes on in prison, the need to escape, and the lack of a female companion for men who go to war (more specifically then then now).

Maréchal and Boeldieu are put under Rauffensteins rule, who runs what is described as an "inescapable fortress." He also comes equipped this time with a silver plate to support his fractured spine, becoming part machine almost and carrying with him a menacing air. He speaks in a slow drawl and is burned all over, "which explains the white gloves," he muses. Rauffenstein is the epitome of the evil prison warden, yet he is not. He respects Boeldieu as a fellow servicemen and, when a raid on Boeldieu's room is done, trusts his word that nothing illegal is there (it is a lie). There are also random moments when both men speak to each other in excellent English.

The theme of human kindness is best represented in two scenes near the end: Maréchal and another inmate, Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) escape while Boeldieu attracts the attention of all the guards as he makes another escape. Rauffenstein pleads with Boeldieu to come down, to not force his hand and make him shot him. But Boeldieu continues onward, and Rauffenstein shoots him down. Later, in a hospital wing, Rauffenstein apologizes for what he had to, and Boeldieu simply replies, "I would have done the same."

The other happens after Maréchal and Rosenthal escape successfully and find shelter with a widowed German woman, Elsa (Dita Parlo) and her daughter. Her loneliness cries for recognition from someone, as her husband was killed in the war, and the common bond shared between two should-be enemies is beautifully rendered to dust here, as they grow to love each other.

I have spoken perhaps too much of the film's plot, and nowadays some will probably see it's optimistic view of humanity as dated and not as revolutionary. The film holds my attention throughout and is filled with characters that I truly grow to love and care for. There are no villains, except for perhaps the war that rages in the background, but instead people being people, kind, honest human beings. There are too few movies that triumph the human spirit, but this is one of them.