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Trapped: Series 1 AKA Ófærð (TV)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Arrow Films Review written by and copyright: Matthew Crossman (8th April 2016). |
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The Show
 Andri Olafsson (Olafur Darri Olafsson) is the Chief of Police in a small port town in Iceland called Seyoisfjorour. It's a town so small that everyone knows each other and consequently everyone knows each other's business. To this end the whole town knows that Andri's Wife, Agnes (Nina Dogg Filippusdottir) has left him and moved South to live in Reykjavik leaving him to take care of his two young daughters whilst she moves on with another man. Abdri has still not accepted the break from his Wife and still wears his wedding ring. Most of the work that Andri conducts as the Chief of Police is very low level until one fateful day, at the beginning of a terrible storm that will see all the roads out of town closed, the torso of a male human is recovered from the fjord by two fishermen. As the body is hauled out of the icy water a ferry, sailing from Denmark, is about to dock. Andri quickly concludes that the body, missing it's limbs and head, may well have been thrown overboard from the ferry and that the killer could be aboard. Andri speaks with his supervisors in Reykjavik who advise him to simply contain the situation and ensure that no one leaves the ferry until the team from the capital can get there. Unfortunately, with the storm worsening, the team are stranded in Reykjavik. Worse still, the Danish Captain of the ferry is not in a co-operating mood and turns off the heat on the ferry. This exacerbates the situation and the passengers, who have now been waiting hours to disembark start to become anxious. Against the wishes of Andri the Captain of the ferry then opens the doors and allows foot and car passengers to disembark. By now Andri has identified a possible suspect, a Lithuanian mobster with a history of people trafficking who is on board the ferry and could be implicated in the murder. Andri sees the Lithuanian, who attempts to flee in a camper van, and a chase ensues. Andri catches up with him and incarcerates him. During this time the weather is worsening and Andri is being pressured from all sides regarding the murder including by his superiors in Reykjavik and the Mayor of the town who also used to be Chief of Police. Meanwhile the torso of the murdered man has been stolen from the fishing freezer it was being stored in and pictures of the corpse have been published on Twitter. The prime suspect in the theft of the body is Hjortur (Baltasar Breki Samper). Hjortur has a long, and chequered history with the town and seen as something as a black sheep. Several years earlier he and his girlfriend had broken into a disused factory and used the building as a secret hideout where the could drink, smoke pot and have sex. On the last occasions they visited the factory a fire broke out. Hjortur managed to escape but his girlfriend perished in the factory. Hjortur then left the town but now he is back and he arrived on the same ferry as the one that is suspected to have carried the murderer and the victim. Hjortur is arrested in regards to the disappearance of the body. He admits that he took the photographs and posted them to Twitter but he denies stealing the body. Meanwhile the Lithuanian has managed to escape from his cell at the police station but is later found dead after crashing a stolen police car. Andri then learns that the body of murder victim, whom he believes to be a Swiss national, was not ever on the ferry and then there is another death, quickly followed by a third. As the bodies start to pile up, and the weather closes in even more, can Andri and his small team cope with the twists and turns that seem to wait around every corner? Quite frankly there are so many plot twists and turns in this ten part series that any in depth summary could hardly do it justice. Not only that but it is the plot twists that make 'Trapped' such an enjoyable series that I would not want to ruin it for you anyway. What is summarised above is approximately four episodes worth of the series. To reveal much more would series harm your enjoyment of the series, a series I suggest you should seek out. It is reported that 'Trapped' is the most expensive Icelandic television show ever made and you can see why. The whole production has fantastic values to it and the money (about £5 million pounds worth) is all there on the screen. 'Trapped' first aired in Iceland in late December but viewers in the United Kingdom may have been aware of the show from the airing it received on BBC 4 starting in mid February 2016. The show garnered some terrific reviews from the press at the time and unfortunately I was too late to the party and had to wait for this blu ray release from Arrow under it's 'Nordic Noir' imprint, but it was well worth the wait. Of course nothing is truly new anymore and it seemed to me that influences from two shows in particular shone through whilst watching 'Trapped'. The first is 'Storm of the Century' the television mini-series from 1999 that was written by Stephen King. This is quite obvious in that both shows a small town is confined to it's town limits by a raging storm and whilst this storm is taking place bad and despicable things are happening and no one can get away from them. The second influence I think is 'Twin Peaks'. This is because of the dense layering of each character, many of whom hold motives and reasons to do good or bad things and many of whom could be involved, either directly or indirectly, with any of the major crimes that take place. What 'Trapped' does is takes the two series' and mashes them together but the real star of the show in 'Trapped' is the wonderful scenery. 'Trapped' is set in a such a picturesque and yet bleak place that at times it's hard to concentrate on the complex storyline as I found myself marvelling at the stunning imagery of the mountains and the port instead. If I was to have one complaint with the television show it is that, at times, it can be quite protracted. The whole second act of the series moves at a rather languid pace but to be fair the acting and directing is of such a high calibre that even this does not seem to matter. This is definitely a television show worth seeing without too much future knowledge so I have kept the synopsis deliberately brief but 'Trapped' is a show that comes into the category that when you are sitting there at midnight with your other half and you look at each other and both say together, 'One more episode?'
Video
'Trapped' is presented in it's original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and is 1080i/50 (AVC encode). This blu-ray presentation from Arrow Video is picture perfect. At no time during the entire ten episodes is the picture quality anything less then perfect. Whether it be during day time scenes set entirely in a snowy landscape or a night with just torch light to illuminate the scene the picture quality has no faults that I can see. The blacks are extremely deep and the whites are often dazzling. The flashes of colour we do get , and there are not many, can be quite dazzling but for the most part the palette of the piece is sombre and understated. Episodes 1-4 are on disc one, 5-7 are on disc two, whilst the final 3 episodes plus a 'Making of Trapped' extra (discussed below) are on disc three.
Audio
In keeping with the spirit of the rest of the presentation of the series the audio aspect is presented in a robust DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo soundtrack. Once again it's pretty pitch perfect with even the smallest of sounds, such as hard snow hitting a windscreen, perfectly presented. It seems every effort has been made to ensure that every aspect of 'Trapped' is maxed out for your enjoyment and the audio is no exception. The language of 'Trapped' is in it's native Icelandic with English only subtitles available. These subtitles are only for the language portion of the programme and are not descriptive. The subtitles are presented in a pleasing white font.
Extras
The only extra available is 'The Making of Trapped' (23.26). This is a standard junket piece that starts with the writers talking about the inception of the programme through to interviews with it's directors and principal cast. There are some behind the scenes footage to enjoy as well as some more of the stunning photography from the small port town where the series was filmed. There is not a great deal to be learnt from this extra but it's still welcome none the less.
Overall
Everything about 'Trapped' oozes class. These 'Nordic Noirs' are very much in fashion at the moment and after other series' such as 'The Bridge', 'Wallander' and 'The Killing' I was wondering whether the genre had anything left to surprise me with. 'Trapped', in my opinion, trumps them all with it's fantastic production values, intriguing storyline and superb cast. The effort made by everyone involved is right up there on the screen and the effort involved in bringing these discs to your home shines through too. The picture and sound quality will make the most out of the even the most sophisticated home cinema set up so much so that after just one episode you'll be reaching to turn up the heating in your home as the storm in the show starts to build. I urge anyone who has yet to see 'Trapped' to try not to read too many spoiler reviews and let the show unveil it's secrets to you one at a time and before long you'll be trapped too. Highly recommended.
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