Where to start. First, the documentary is not good, not even close.
It focuses a lot on one person Ms. Larsson who is very shady herself. They probably gave her a pretty mild treatment for exclusive access.
That is one major problem but the doc has many more. The second huge problem is how the story is portrayed. It jumps around constantly, contradicts itself and often remains vague, bordering on misleading.
Several times I was asking myself when something was happening. Larrson and Juan Carlos talk and then never talk again and then talk again but really really the last time. When did she get the money and when did the Saudi thing happen, when was the elephant shot, how did Juan Carlos break his hip and so and so on.
As mentioned, the story often shows certain incidents but then keeps them vague. For example, Larrson got into a car crash with the implication that maybe Spanish Intelligence was involved but there is no description what actually happened and then the story just moves on. In other words, to me it often seemed like fairly mundane happening were portrayed as mysterious or dangerous when at least sometimes they were not.
The focus is also questionable. At first it mostly looks at the person this documentary is actually about but then shifts towards Larrson and Juan Carlos almost disappears from the story. There are some interesting elements in her story but similar to most people in this documentary she is just very unsympathetic. The documentary only hints a few times at her really shady behaviors like trying to destroy the reputation of a persecutor which she describes as somebody who hates the rich.
That is maybe the greatest failing of the documentary. It's a milquetoast investigation that never questions the systems that produces these people even though at numerous points it mentions in passing how broken everything is. It tries to make this a story of personal failings which is the most timid way to portray it.
A failure on almost every level!
It focuses a lot on one person Ms. Larsson who is very shady herself. They probably gave her a pretty mild treatment for exclusive access.
That is one major problem but the doc has many more. The second huge problem is how the story is portrayed. It jumps around constantly, contradicts itself and often remains vague, bordering on misleading.
Several times I was asking myself when something was happening. Larrson and Juan Carlos talk and then never talk again and then talk again but really really the last time. When did she get the money and when did the Saudi thing happen, when was the elephant shot, how did Juan Carlos break his hip and so and so on.
As mentioned, the story often shows certain incidents but then keeps them vague. For example, Larrson got into a car crash with the implication that maybe Spanish Intelligence was involved but there is no description what actually happened and then the story just moves on. In other words, to me it often seemed like fairly mundane happening were portrayed as mysterious or dangerous when at least sometimes they were not.
The focus is also questionable. At first it mostly looks at the person this documentary is actually about but then shifts towards Larrson and Juan Carlos almost disappears from the story. There are some interesting elements in her story but similar to most people in this documentary she is just very unsympathetic. The documentary only hints a few times at her really shady behaviors like trying to destroy the reputation of a persecutor which she describes as somebody who hates the rich.
That is maybe the greatest failing of the documentary. It's a milquetoast investigation that never questions the systems that produces these people even though at numerous points it mentions in passing how broken everything is. It tries to make this a story of personal failings which is the most timid way to portray it.
A failure on almost every level!
