Reel Rewind: “Millennium: The Story”

English title – “Millennium: The Story” / Swedish language title – “Årtusende: Den Berättelsen”
As I do not speak, read, or write Swedish, the Swedish language title was obtained through an online translation site. Thought it would be interesting to see the film title in the subject’s language.

I suppose it is somewhat incongruous to watch a documentary about a man of whom I haven’t heard, who wrote books I haven’t read, and which were made into films I haven’t viewed. However, that lack of knowledge makes me an objective person to watch Stieg Larsson’s life unfold on the screen - no perceived ideas or opinions of the man or his work to influence my reactions. In all fairness, I must admit that I have visited Sweden and found that I liked what I saw of the country.

The core of “Millennium: The Story” surrounds the trilogy of crime novels written by Stieg Larsson which have become a literary phenomenon never before seen in Sweden. The books have been translated into twenty-five languages and are available in forty countries. Probably should pay more attention to contemporary literature, as somehow I missed the whole super hype of Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women), Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden (The Girl Who Played With Fire), and Luftslottet Som Sprängdes (The Air Castle That Blew Up). Larsson’s books were subsequently made into films – “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl Who Played With Fire”, and “The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest”.

From the documentary, a picture arises of a man whose life’s passion was the fight against the extreme right and neo-nazism in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe. He conducted this fight through the pages of the quarterly magazine, Expo, of which he was the editor. Larsson’s stand against the neo-nazis made him a target of attack and he was so protective of his long-time girlfriend, Eva Gabrielsson, that he didn’t marry her in order to keep her from being directly connected with him. However noble that decision was, it has caused inheritance controversy in Sweden. Because they weren’t marry and Larsson didn’t name her in a will, Eva does not receive any money from the books or films – it all goes to Larsson’s father, Erland and his brother Joakim. Eva has a project with a Danish film director to do the story of Stieg Larsson’s life.

Erland and Joakim recount Stieg’s childhood in northern Sweden from living with his grandparents until age nine, to getting a typewriter for his twelfth birthday (sharing the noise of it with Joakim in their bedroom!), to winning an argument with Erland at age fourteen, and to trying to choose between being a journalist or a writer – Stieg ended up being both. Despite the unexpected inheritance, both Erland and Joakim are still living simply and the money stays in a bank. They may give some of the money to Expo and are considering projects that have been proposed to them. There is no mention of Eva in terms of any money for her. I wonder what Stieg would say.

In his novels, Larsson uses Stockholm as the setting for the story. The documentary shows a tour group who are visiting the actual places mentioned in the books and which had meaning in Larsson’s own life. It was good to see familiar landmarks that I remember from my trip to Stockholm much too long ago. Larsson has all “the good guys” live in one part of Stockholm and “the bad guys” live in another – an actual dividing line between good and evil which is not found in the real world. Larsson’s world consisted of exposing the extreme right, writing fiction and non-fiction books, loving and protecting Eva, sleeping little, eating poorly, and smoking between sixty and eighty cigarettes a day. If Larsson actually smoked eighty cigarettes for twenty-four hours straight, that would be a little more than one cigarette every twenty minutes. No doubt that level of smoking contributed to his untimely heart attack and death.

“Millennium: The Story” cycles between the tour group, Larsson’s family, his international rights agent, his publisher, the writers at Expo, a financial backer, and film goers throughout the documentary. Although there are some subtitles, much of the film is dubbed in English and at times the actual footage is not as sharp as usually seen on the screen. But I did like what I learned about Stieg Larsson and it is truly unfortunate that he did not live to see the world wide impact of his novels, though I suspect Larsson would prefer a world wide impact on ending the extreme right.

This free screening of “Millennium: The Story” was a Laemmle theatre promotion for the opening of the second film in the trilogy – “The Girl Who Played With Fire”. Following the documentary, the first film – “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” – was shown, but I did not stay to watch it. Glad I saw the documentary and happy to know something about the man behind the three novels.


Film Facts: Director: Laurence Lowenthal, Production Companies: Impact Presse, Canal+, Centre National de la Cinématographie

Film Type: Documentary, Length: 53’, Languages: Swedish, English, French, Country: Sweden, Year: 2009


Images:
Left: Photo of Stieg Larsson from the website travelbetweenthepages.files.wordpress.com
Center: Graphic interpretation of “Millennium: The Story” created by Adrean Darce Brent

Right: Poster of “Millennium: The Story” from the website dragontattoofilm.com