DVD Review: SPRING TIDE/SPRINGFLODEN (Season One on MHz Releasing)

SPRING TIDE FOR SWEDEN

Now available on DVD, this sober-sided cop-show sparkles with invention about how patient detective grunt-work can pay off big time. Written by the famous Swedish husband/wife team of Rolf and Cillia Börglind (Beck, Arne Dahl, Wallender, among many other series), Spring Tide (Springfloden) taken from their novel, The Third Voice (Den tredje rösten).

A young cop-in-training, Olivia Rönning (Julia Ragnarsson), has been given an assignment to look into a twenty-five-year-old cold-case wherein a mid-twenties pregnant Costa Rican was put into a beach hole and deliberately left to drown at high tide. At that time, nobody knew who she was, or from what country she hailed, or who impregnated her. Just that she drowned. A sad and pathetic death.

Olivia discovers that her late father had been involved with the unsolved murder, and takes up the steep learning-curve to find a solution. During her investigation, the uncovered information takes her into a quagmire of subterfuge business chicanery that involves a host of suspects, including the now-grown up eight-year-old who saw the murder taking place and the man who had been her lover when he fled to Costa Rica to hide a huge theft, and has now been murdered to cover up the original crime.

Ms. Rönning is also helped by the original detective Tom Stilton (Kjell Berggvist) — who had worked with her father on the case — now a homeless drunk, who, ironically, is saved from his downfall by a couple of young teen thugs who had filmed themselves beating and killing some of the homeless in Stockholm, one of whom, a sometime lover of Tom’s named Vera (Anna Wallender) is burned alive by these small hoodlums, who are also part of a gruesome, illegal child-ring-fighters activity.

There are several more subplots, all integrating into the original murder of the full-term pregnant woman. Lots of prime Swedish actors were hired, making this authentic and realistic. They include Cecilia Nilsson as the head detective, Mette; Dar Salim as another detective, Abbas; Görel Crona as Jackie Berglund, a retired whore with no heart, let alone one of gold; and Kjell Wilhelmsen as the Inspector one loves to hate for his grandstanding incompetence.

Sweden, as always, looks splendid on the screen and the professionalism of the writing team, directors (Niklas and Mattias Ohlsson), actors and designers and technicians make it all work splendidly.

Spring Tide (Springfloden)
Season One
MHz Networks
French with English subtitles
3 discs | 434 minutes | released on DVD January 29, 2019 | not rated
available at  MHz Releasing  or  Amazon