A cold-hammered mail robbery is carried out in the middle of Stockholm during Christmas rush and the two policemen Jarnebring (Sven Wollter) and Johansson (Tomas von Brömssen) from the investigation department arrives first at the crime scene. The robber escapes though.
Evidently two of the witnesses have recognized the person committing this crime and it also seems as if they know him prior to this bank robbery.
Before the police is able to come to a conclusion about what they have in common, the two witnesses are murdered.
When the identity of the murderer finally is exposed, Jarnebring and Johansson work hard to come up with proofs but there's always someone who sweeps up the trails.
The ones responsible for this, is to be found in the highest political establishments.
This film is built on the book 'Grisfesten' ('The Pig Party', my literal translation) by Leif G.W. Persson, a Swedish criminologist.
The film as well as the book is inspired by the so called 'Bordellhärvan' ('Brothel skein' or 'The Geijer Affair'), the story about the Minister of Justice Lennart Geijer who was said having bought prostitutes at several occasions together with other so called 'prominent' persons.
This happened during the 1970's and as Geijer was a Social Democrat, 'the Party' used all its influence to quiet the affair.
Leif G.W. Persson was also involved as a 'whistle blower' and so was Hans Holmér (later known as the police in charge during the investigation of the murder of Olof Palme) and Ebbe Carlsson, a publisher with a lot of influence, his tentacles reaching out far in those years.
The latter two more served as those trying to hide the truth around this story.
(From Wikipedia: "In 1977, while working at the Swedish National Police Board, Persson was used as the whistleblower by journalist Peter Bratt in the so called Geijer affair when he confirmed a classified memo sent by then National Police Commissioner Carl Persson to Prime Minister Olof Palme about the alleged ties of the Minister of Justice, Lennart Geijer, to a prostitution ring in Stockholm. Following this affair he was fired from the National Police Board. The string of events almost drove Persson to suicide,[2] but he soon returned as lecturer at Stockholm University. The prostitution ring affair inspired him to write his first novel, Grisfesten. He returned as a professor at the National Police Board in 1992.")
In the end, those having accused the Minister of Justice Geijer of having bought prostitutes, had to apologize (if I remember correctly) and the affair was shut down, as so often is the case when persons in so called 'high positions' in society make mistakes. We are not equal before the law, as we all know.
Did Geijer buy prostitutes or not?
When working as an aid-worker partly within the S:ta Clara congregation in Stockholm (in my capacity as an assistant clergyman) and later on in my own foundation (Ascendere), I talked with some of the women prostituting themselves and they clearly stated that they had received Geijer as one of their clients. This not said because I pushed them to tell but spontaneously during conversations. I do fully believe in these women and they also told me that they had been put under pressure when trying to tell the truth.
As you might know, the Social Democratic Party had an immense power and ruled Sweden in an almost authoritarian way from the 1930's til 1976.
What about the film as such? It's actually one of the best Swedish police films ever made and it's the same director who made 'Mannen på taket' ('Man on the Roof') - Bo Widerberg - and it's almost the same actors. Both stories are built around more or less realistic criminal investigations and the work carried out by the policemen is portrayed in a most realistic way I think.
This in combination with some very good action scenes makes it into a very well narrated story.
Evidently two of the witnesses have recognized the person committing this crime and it also seems as if they know him prior to this bank robbery.
Before the police is able to come to a conclusion about what they have in common, the two witnesses are murdered.
When the identity of the murderer finally is exposed, Jarnebring and Johansson work hard to come up with proofs but there's always someone who sweeps up the trails.
The ones responsible for this, is to be found in the highest political establishments.
This film is built on the book 'Grisfesten' ('The Pig Party', my literal translation) by Leif G.W. Persson, a Swedish criminologist.
The film as well as the book is inspired by the so called 'Bordellhärvan' ('Brothel skein' or 'The Geijer Affair'), the story about the Minister of Justice Lennart Geijer who was said having bought prostitutes at several occasions together with other so called 'prominent' persons.
This happened during the 1970's and as Geijer was a Social Democrat, 'the Party' used all its influence to quiet the affair.
Leif G.W. Persson was also involved as a 'whistle blower' and so was Hans Holmér (later known as the police in charge during the investigation of the murder of Olof Palme) and Ebbe Carlsson, a publisher with a lot of influence, his tentacles reaching out far in those years.
The latter two more served as those trying to hide the truth around this story.
(From Wikipedia: "In 1977, while working at the Swedish National Police Board, Persson was used as the whistleblower by journalist Peter Bratt in the so called Geijer affair when he confirmed a classified memo sent by then National Police Commissioner Carl Persson to Prime Minister Olof Palme about the alleged ties of the Minister of Justice, Lennart Geijer, to a prostitution ring in Stockholm. Following this affair he was fired from the National Police Board. The string of events almost drove Persson to suicide,[2] but he soon returned as lecturer at Stockholm University. The prostitution ring affair inspired him to write his first novel, Grisfesten. He returned as a professor at the National Police Board in 1992.")
In the end, those having accused the Minister of Justice Geijer of having bought prostitutes, had to apologize (if I remember correctly) and the affair was shut down, as so often is the case when persons in so called 'high positions' in society make mistakes. We are not equal before the law, as we all know.
Did Geijer buy prostitutes or not?
When working as an aid-worker partly within the S:ta Clara congregation in Stockholm (in my capacity as an assistant clergyman) and later on in my own foundation (Ascendere), I talked with some of the women prostituting themselves and they clearly stated that they had received Geijer as one of their clients. This not said because I pushed them to tell but spontaneously during conversations. I do fully believe in these women and they also told me that they had been put under pressure when trying to tell the truth.
As you might know, the Social Democratic Party had an immense power and ruled Sweden in an almost authoritarian way from the 1930's til 1976.
What about the film as such? It's actually one of the best Swedish police films ever made and it's the same director who made 'Mannen på taket' ('Man on the Roof') - Bo Widerberg - and it's almost the same actors. Both stories are built around more or less realistic criminal investigations and the work carried out by the policemen is portrayed in a most realistic way I think.
This in combination with some very good action scenes makes it into a very well narrated story.
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