FORBRYDELSEN(THE KILLING)

“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

I’ve often been surprised at people’s reactions when I tell them the truth. They said they wanted to hear it. But it quickly became clear to me that what I said wasn’t what they wanted to hear. Truth is supposed to be something we all want to hear. As children, we are told to always tell the truth. But do our parents explain the intricacies of what that really means? It seems to mean something different to each of us. We can agree on certain facts, most of the time. But those facts do not always lead us to the same truth. Sometimes the truth is too hard to accept. Sometimes it’s too hard to share. Some of us are not very delicate about sharing the truth. “The truth shall set you free”. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it’s a burden.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the concept of truth while I was watching this series. It is a crime drama with lots of plot twists and action. But it is also a story about why and how the crimes are committed. The police want to solve the crimes. So do the politicians, so they say. But the politicians have their own interests to protect which are apparently more important than solving crimes.If it is a worthy cause, why cover it up? Who are we as human beings if we justify hiding the truth about crime and corruption? Or perhaps it’s just as Nietzsche said in the quote at the top of the page. But who decides when it isn’t necessary to tell the truth?

This sense of indifference to truth wasn’t presented with melodramatic music and intense close-ups of the actors. It was stated simply as a matter of fact. A practicality. There was no attempt to justify it. No one beat me over the head with clues and false leads to try to impress me. In a way, it made the revelation of who committed the crimes more intense and personal. I really wanted the criminal to be someone else in one season.

I couldn’t possibly do justice to the complexity of the storylines, so I won’t attempt to. If you like crime drama with lots of flawed characters, I strongly recommend that you check out this series.

MHz has an English dubbed version of the series if you prefer that to subtitles.