ON THE SAME TEAM
When countries cooperate in art, it can make a huge difference in the joint quality of the work. Such is the strength behind a superior television series, The Team, a soft title for such a hard-driven police-procedure eight-episode package.
Tightly written (mainly by Mai Brostrøm and Peter Thorsboe) and impeccably directed (Kasper Gaardsøe and Kathrine Windfeld), and having some of the tightest cinematography to be seen anywhere (Jan Pallesen, Morten Søborg and Lars Vestergaard), the casting has also been extraordinary with an exemplary cast of veteran European actors making every moment meaningful.
The storylines center around a series of murders of young, mostly Lithuanian women, sex-trafficked into Belgium, Denmark, and Germany by a heavy-set billionaire psychotic with a religious compulsion to kidnap, rape and murder beautiful women, Marius Loukauskis (Nicholas Ofczarek).
One of the appealing parts of European television and films is their relaxed attitude regarding nudity, including leading actors. In this case, Lars Mikkelson, in his early 50s here, is no stranger. A star in his native Denmark, he brings gravitas as a newbie father and a passionate cop. The plot allows for three police forces to work together as a close-knit, international unit, with Mikkelson representing Denmark. German Jasmin Great is Jackie Mueller in a floundering marriage, and Belgian Alicia Verbeeck as a focused and struggling copper.
They’re supported by a great secondary cast with Carlos Leal as a dying journalist who has the goods on the infamous Loukauskis; Stephanie Pernel as a corrupted Berlin-based Inspector; and gorgeous Sunnyi Melles as an older, mentally-disturbed singer (of wonderful American soul-music), Iris Gabler.
Fascinatingly, one of the reasons these detectives are able to work so well together is in using the English language as a lingua franca, impeccably spoken, with soft native accents. It’s a wonderment to hear German, Danish, Flemish, French and English spoken at all, let alone so well.
One of the other values in series such as these that MHz Releasing offers (with excellent subtitling) from Europe is how similar and yet different the countries police forces are from our own. And the visuals of the Alps, and the cities, and the day-to-day functions make us all one people, like it or not.
The amount of European talent in front of the camera as well as behind it bodes well for a continuation of further shows and films for us to rally behind.
It took three years, but soon Season 2 is on its way to us.
The Team
Season One
MHz Networks
different languages with English subtitles
3 discs | 463 minutes | released on DVD July 30, 2019 | not rated
available at MHz Releasing or Amazon
