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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Bron" or "Broen")

 

directed by Charlotte Sieling, Henrik Georgsson
Sweden/Denmark 2011

 

Tense, thrilling, and unbearably suspenseful, the Swedish/Danish co-production series THE BRIDGE (BRON/BROEN) - partially directed by Charlotte Sieling (veteran of the Danish thrillers UNIT ONE and THE KILLING) - opens with a forty-five second power outage on the Øresund Bridge that marks the border of Sweden and Denmark. When the lights come back up, the workers and commuters discover the body of a woman positioned precisely half-way on the border marker with half in either country (and thus in both of their jurisdictions). Malmo police detective Saga Noren (Sofia Helin, ARN: THE KNIGHT TEMPLAR) and Copenhagen detective Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia, BLEEDER) both respond to the scene. Middle-aged Martin is happy to hand it off to extremely brusk Saga when she recognizes the body as that of the chairman of the Malmo City Council, until moving the body reveals that it has been cut in half with surgical skill. The Swedish coroner discovers that the bottom half of the torso has been deep frozen and does not belong to the victim, and Martin becomes involved in the official investigation when the second victim is revealed to be a Danish prostitute whose disappearance had been sloppily investigated and abandoned.

The bridge surveillance camera reveals that the car used to dump the body belongs to Swedish tabloid journalist Daniel Ferbé (Christian Hillborg, EASY MONEY), but he is ruled out as a suspect when he is found trapped in the car with a time bomb. The bomb turns out to be a fake, but it comes with a CD delivering a message to Saga and Martin about the perpetrator's future plans which he elaborates on at a website that has the media - lead by Daniel - dubbing him the Truth Terrorist and polarizing Swedish and Danish society against its levels of social strata. The killer plans to graphically illustrate five problems plaguing Danish and Swedish society. Other characters (and potential suspects) drawn into the case over the course of ten episodes include Martin's long-suffering wife Mette (Puk Scharbau, TERRIBLY HAPPY) and layabout son August (Emil Birk Hartmann) from a previous marriage, his publicity-minded superior Lillian (Sarah Boberg, IN YOUR HANDS), Saga's superior Hans (Dag Malmberg, IRENE HUSS) on whom she is dependent before Martin to explain social conventions, unethical but concerned social worker Stefan (Magnus Krepper, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and his unstable sister Sonja (Maria Sundbom), wealthy widow Charlotte Soringer (Ellen Hillingsø,MIFUNE), software executive Sebastian Sandstrod (Lars Simonsen, BROTHERHOOD), schizophrenic Lasse Jonsson (Martin Noren, SCALP), neglected runaway Anja Bjork (Fanny Ketter, BITCH HUG), violent vagrant Bjorn (Morten Suurballe, THE KILLING), and embattled cops Henning Tholstrup (Ole Boisen, FEAR ME NOT) and Jesper Andersson (Henning Valin Jakobsen, AURUM). As the Swedish and Danish police attempt to foil each of the killer's plans and discover his identity, they remain always a step behind; with each successful rescue of a potential victim actually playing into the killer's hands, as his more personal motives and startling identity are revealed.

Eric Cotenas

Theatrical Release: 21 Sep. 2011 - 23 Nov. 2011 (Sweden and Denmark)

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DVD Review: Arrow Films - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover

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Distribution

Arrow Films

Region 2 - PAL

Runtime 9:36:09 (4% PAL speedup)
Video

1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: ~4.58 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate

Audio Danish/Swedish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles English, none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Arrow Films

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• DISC ONE:
• - Episode 1 (16:9; 57:30)
• - Episode 2 (16:9; 58:08)
• - Episode 3 (16:9; 57:42)
• - Episode 4 (16:9; 57:30)

• DISC TWO:
• - Episode 5 (16:9; 57:28)
• - Episode 6 (16:9; 57:30)
• - Episode 7 (16:9; 57:32)
• - Episode 8 (16:9; 57:40)

• DISC THREE:
• - Episode 9 (16:9; 57:36)
• - Episode 10 (16:9; 57:38)

DVD Release Date: May 21st, 2012
Amaray in Slipcover

Chapters 50

 

Comments

NOTE: Also available on Blu-ray from Arrow HERE, or on DVD together with Season 2 HERE.

Arrow's three-disc DVD set presents four episodes each on the first two dual-layer discs and the remaining two on a third single-layer disc. The show was broadcast with a 5.1 mix, but Arrow's release features a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track (as does the only other English-friendly Australian edition) with burnt-in English subtitles. The stereo mix may be disappointing to fans but it is sufficient (although one may have to adjust the volume whenever the end credits roll as the recording of the theme song "Hollow Talk" seems louder than the rest of mix), and the subtitles are neither too large or too small. There are no extras in the set, but the Scandinavian edition is also barebones (the German edition - which presents the series as five two-hour episodes - has a series of EPK cast and crew interviews running two-to-three minutes each).

  - Eric Cotenas

 


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DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Distribution

Arrow Films

Region 2 - PAL

 

 


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