I've changed my mind. I
don't like
the English version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo better than
the original Swedish version—or not better than the extended edition, at any rate. As the blurb from Netflix (where I downloaded the extended edition yesterday) points out, "this complete version...restores notable characters and subplots from Stieg Larsson's...novels." What could be better than a sort of Masterpiece-Theater completeness in adapting Larsson's compelling stories? Or than Noomi Rapace as the girl? (Meant with no disrespect for Rooney Mara's portrayal in the English version.)
Män som hatar kvinnor [The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo] (2009 Extended Edition: Niels Arden Oplev) [Netflix: The extended edition of the trilogy contains more than two hours of additional footage not seen in the theatrical versions of the original Swedish films. Amassing a total of 9 hours of story content and presented in 6 parts, this complete version of the international hit series restores notable characters and subplots from Stieg Larsson's best-selling novels. In the first two parts, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) team up to investigate the unsolved disappearance of wealthy Henrik Vanger's teenage niece, Harriet Vanger] [E] 5-15-2012
Watching
Dragon Tattoo again (my fourth time if you include the two viewings of the Swedish theatrical version and the English version) reminded me how crucial the Book of Leviticus is to the plot. Lisbeth Salander discovers its significance, and Mikael Blomkvist comments that it's the best clue they've discovered so far. The novel's way of using Leviticus underscores by connotation how pathological was the culture that produced Leviticus.
And it underscores in turn how pathetic it is to base one's "principled" objection to gay marriage today on a
selection from ancient Leviticus.
