The only good thing about the MCO is that our neighbouring building site has been very quiet. Quiet on the building site facilitates more time on the balcony in the evening. And what we do on the balcony in the evening is read. The corollary to this is less time in the living-room in the evening, and the consumption of fewer movies and serials.

But we finally got to the point of finishing off a couple of things last week, so I thought it was time for a quick round-up of the last few months' viewing.

1.
The Man in Room 301, Finnish 

Chronicling the aftermath of a family tragedy, this builds its tension very nicely, although some of the plot lines are a little unbelievable (would a young couple who have gone on holiday to get to know each other really offer to take a young kid climbing, and would granddad really throw a ton of money at a person whose identity he has not been able to verify?)

I found the last episode a little too melodramatic, moving from the cold, lurking atmosphere that worked so well previously to something all too scurrying and emotional.

Bottom line: Don't cover stuff up. 

2.
Thin Ice, Swedish

This explores what happens when an act of violence explodes into an already fraught situation in which a group of states with diverging interests are trying to thrash out an environmental protection treaty.

All the way through, I was distracted by thoughts of how I would have used it in class to discuss all sorts of things: climate change and the Arctic, of course, but also non-sovereign political entities, diplomacy, treaties, international society... It would have made a great jumping-off point...

It's set in Greenland, which, we were all relieved to hear recently, the US is no longer angling to buy. The scenery is stunning, and the degree to which this landscape is currently under threat comes across very clearly. (The closest we ever came to Greenland was when we flew over it, on the way to New Zealand in 1992, which is where the picture at the top comes from.) 

Bottom line: Don't trust anyone, particularly not the Americans. 

3.
The Sleepers, Czech

Set in the run-up to the Velvet Revolution in 1989, this spy-thriller stays twisty to the very end. It's really beautifully filmed, making drabness and shabbiness into an art form.

The characters are interesting, in their varying degrees of emptiness and tiredness. As this perceptive review points out, they "don’t move very far from where they start". Whether it's also true that "their ends look much like Czech society after the Velvet Revolution -- lonely and unfulfilled", I'm not qualified to judge.

Bottom line: Don't trust anyone, particularly not the Russians. 

4.
Kieler Street, Norwegian 

In a supposedly quiet, law-abiding, happy little town, a man goes missing, and a body shows up. And that's just the beginning...

This was weirdly fascinating. A sort of surreal comedy, with murders. You'll never see nice, normal people and locales in the same way ever again. 

Bottom line: Don't trust anyone...

5.
The Honourable Woman, British 

Plunging boldly into the booby-trap-ridden world composed of Israel-Palestine and the many external parties who have an interest in that ongoing injustice, this series has more layers than an onion. You definitely want to keep watching, even if sometimes you feel as though you'd prefer to do it from behind the sofa...   

I'm not going to wade into the minefield of whether its portrayals are fair or not. Here and here are two opposing views.

But it was certainly thought-provoking.

Bottom line: SERIOUSLY, don't trust anyone...