Just finished watching "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".

The first thing i learnt from watching it is that all Swedish hackers and journalists use Macs.

One thing i found interesting is that it rather reminded me of the "Martin Beck" mysteries by Sjowall and Wahloo; and what makes that *especially* interesting is that Larsson, like Sjowall and Wahloo, was a political/investigative journalist, and that, like them, he was using the crime fiction form to examine and expose negative aspects of Swedish society.

Sjowall and Wahloo were interested in a general social malaise they perceived - one of their detectives describes a murder as a "typical welfare state crime". As well, they perceived a right-wing authoritarian bias in society and in politics.

Larsson senses a similar malaise, but he specifically sees the wealthy and the powerful committing whatever crimes they please and pretty well getting away with it. He is also concerned with what he sees as a vicious misogynistic streak in society - the original Swedish title translates as "Men Who Hate Women", and the plot turns around a previously-unrecognised string of sex murders going back to 1949. There is also a truly despicable government bureaucrat who uses his position to sadistically abuse women over whom he has been given power.

Excellent film. A bit harrowing at some points.

Now i shall read the book, which i bought last week.