Analysis of the movie 'Wallander'

1. Wallander
(Firewall, 07/12/08, BBC1)

2. Mise En Scene:
First shot-
• Set in a countryside, dark green tones of the field. Colours with negative connotations, already creating an
eerie atmosphere. Sense of loneliness as there is nothing around, including people, cars, houses, animals
etc, reinforcing the awkward and peculiar atmosphere set. Track in of the camera from the sea to the field;
establishing long shot used to show the viewers how isolated this location is. We then see a white car with
the 2 doors widely opened, and 2 people walking away from the car creating a sense of urgency. This
makes the audience ask questions like, ‘Who are these people?’ and ‘Where are they going?’ In addition,
the car is off the tracks, not parked up carefully; looking abandoned, also making us wonder ‘Why is it
parked like this?’ ‘What’s happening?’ A strong negative atmosphere is created so far.
• The people are walking away from the car at a fast pace, but not running, showing they’re in a hurry, but
fearless, making us ask, ‘Why are they walking away from the car in a haste?’
Furthermore, the muffling wind sound starts of quite then gets louder, suddenly a sharp, slicing noise
breaks the muffling sound once it passes the car and two people walking. This foreshadows the danger we
see later on.

3. • 2nd shot
• The next shot is a mid-shot of 2 girls (ones walking away from the car) . This shot has clearly been used to not
reveal too much straight away, therefore the characters’ faces remain anonymous, creating a sense of
criminality. However, the shot is far enough to reveal the colour clothes they’re in are black; girl on the left
wearing a black hoody, the one on the right, wearing a leather jacket. The colour black is ambiguous as it has
connotations of ‘hiding’ and ‘secrecy’, reinforcing this strange atmosphere created, as well as danger. Either
way, their representation adds to the intense atmosphere. She also has a black studded earring in her left ear,
making her seem ‘dangerous’. Furthermore, her red highlighted hair reinforces this as ‘red’ has connotations of
blood and danger, making the audience feel threatened by this character. The girl on the left is not presented
as ‘scary’ as the girl on the right, as she’s shorter (not tall and intimidating like the other character), making us
wonder ‘Who is she?’ and ‘Is she younger?’. Also, she has brown hair, mid-length, tied in a pony-tail,
automatically making her seem more innocent and younger. The girl on the right is shown pacing ahead, while
the other girl’s trying to keep up with her, making her seem more dominating.
• There is no dialogue between the characters, but there’s also no other sound apart from their heavy
breathing and footsteps. The deafening silence adds to the intensity, making the audience wonder, ‘Why are
they panting?’ ‘What just happened?’. It also reinforces that something’s wrong as the fact that there’s no
conversation flowing, hinting out to the audience something bad just happened.
• In addition, neither of them are looking back, signifying they’re very focused and determined, making the
audience ask, ‘Where are they going so determined?’

4. • 3rd shot-
• The next shot is a mid-shot of a section of a car, however this shot is disturbing , as splattered blood covers
a major part of the windscreen, adding to the tension, making the audience wonder ‘Why is there blood?’
and ‘What happened?’. This shot also allows the viewers to see the taxi license hanging from the rear-
view, the picture shows us the man lying unconsciously in the drivers seat is the same guy. Interestingly,
the air freshener spinning around, signifies that there was an event not long ago. The window is blurred
out, however we can still see 2 figures walking away from the car, which we assume are the 2 girls, making
us believe they’ve got something to do what happened to him. The faint sound of the radio playing in the
background juxtaposes with the violent image presented to the viewers, as well as the sounds of the birds
as these create opposing effects as to what’s already been created.

5. 4th shot-
• The next shot is of the 2 girls still walking. The main focus is on the red-haired girl, the other girl is almost
blurred out; shows she’s less important. Their faces look expressionless, ‘cold’, and focused. Also, there is
still no conversation between the 2 characters, maintaining the tense atmosphere. The fact that they’re
not even blinking also reinforces their great deal of focus. All that is heard is heavy breathing –a panic
element.

6. • 5th shot-
• This close-up shot shows the severe injuries on the man’s face. The camera is positioned from the side at a
slight low angle-head resting on the steering wheel. We can see he’s been seriously hurt as his left eye
swollen, lip sliced, however the right side of his face (the side resting on the steering wheel) is completely
fine, making the audience feel that he’s been positioned like this, therefore it couldn’t have been a car
crash he was in, making the audience ask, ‘How did he end up so injured?’.

7. • 6th shot-
• In this shot we see can see that the red-haired girl has splattered blood on her face which is clearly not
hers (we assume it’s the blood of the injured man in the car). This alters the audience to ask further
questions like, ‘Did she hurt him?’ and ‘Did she attempt to kill him?’. Moreover, her stainless, metal
necklace increases the viewers thoughts on her being a ‘dangerous’ and ‘dodgy’ character in the movie.
• 7th shot-
• A close-up shot of his hand is shown here, to show the audience how lifeless he is, emphasising how
injured he really is, making the audience feel sympathy. The close-up of his taxi licence reveals his name,
‘Johan Lundberg’, which is a Swedish name helping the viewers work out where this movie is set (like the
metre number).

8. • 8th shot-
• The same side-shot of the girls walking is once again used, however
this time its much more close-up. Also, the background; being the
brown-haired girl, is blurred out and the red-haired girl in the
foreground is centre of attention, again hinting out that she’s more
important than the other character. The close-up also emphasises
that the tension is getting nearer.

9. • 7th shot-
• Close up of a section of the taxi-the metre; blood is splattered all over it, emphasises the violent event
that’s just happened and exactly how much blood this man has lost. We also see the number on the metre
going up, meaning they’re on a hill, signifying the car’s been parked on a hill for a purpose-to be far away
from everything else.

10. • 8th shot-
• Another section of the car; key ring- picture of him and his son? Shows he’s a family man, seems nice,
trustworthy, innocent, not a bad person to have deserved being hurt like this. This makes the audience
feel sympathy for him. A close-up shot of the taxi licence reveals his name, proves he’s definitely a taxi
driver.
• 9th shot-
• A close-up shot of the red-haired girl dropping the knife on the floor; she is wearing a black net, fingerless
glove, her fingers are covered with blood, we assume its her with the knife as the previous shots only
make sense of the hand being hers, and the blood on her hands is the blood of the injured man. This is
due to successful continuity editing, helping the audience understand exactly what’s going on in the scene.
• She is first clutching onto the knife, then suddenly openly drops the knife suddenly, fingers widely spread.

11. • Titles-
• The titles match the genre and the action in the film as it’s presented in a graphic way- as the black
triangle facing down, resembles the knife dropping from the girls hand, and the colours black and yellow
are very contrasting and making them stand out.