A Danish drama courtesy of SBS. The title translates as Murk.
It is a study in ambiguity and the viewer’s sympathies flow back and forth between Jacob and Anker. Is Jacob, the tall dark, handsome, and assured Copenhagen journalist, an obsessive nut case, while the fat, ugly, placid farmer Anker the victim of circumstances? Or is Anker a devious serial murderer several steps ahead of Jacob, who was right about him all along? Most of the action occurs in the village of Murk (indeed) in Jutland, flat, wet, brooding skies, the smell of farms (manure)…. Be glad there is no Smell-O-Vision. [Remember that? Just wait; it will come again.]
The local plod cannot believe Jacob’s wild accusations, and he certainly is unstable by then. But Anker is on a mission and he cannot deviate….
With the resolution at the end, a number of loose ends arise: Did Hanne make the last phone call? Where is the razor blade or knife?
Maybe we need a little more of Anker to understand the mission. Is it because he, too, is outcast by his looks and so knows what his victims really want even if they never say it, may not ever say it. Why did Jacob keep waking up to answer the phone that did not ring?
In Denmark, one of the most regulated societies, could a serial widower like Anker pass unnoticed by the police, media, and the vigilantes of the blogosphere? Still less in the small villages where he passed. But what if he could….
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