Acquitted is the English title of a Norwegian television series - a crime drama and a murder mystery - which premiered in 2015.
There are two seasons:
** 2015 – Season 1 = 10 episodes
** 2016 – Season 2 = 8 episodes
This review is about season one.
Here is some basic information:
** Original Norwegian title: Frikjent
** Directors: Rune Denstad Langlo & Geir Henning Hopland
** Creators and writers: Anna Bache-Wiig & Siv Rajendram Eliassen
** Additional writers: Lasse Kyed Rasmussen, Lasse Nederhoed & Jarl Emsell Larsen
** Language: mostly Norwegian; on a few occasions English
** Subtitles: English; but when the dialogue is in English, there are no subtitles! This is not helpful if you are deaf or hard of hearing!
** Run time: 10 x 45 minutes = 450 minutes
The cast of the first season includes the following:
The first group
** Nicolai Cleve Broch as Aksel Borgen / Aksel Nilsen – a businessman
** Tobias Santelmann as Erik Nilsen – Aksel’s younger brother
** Anne Marit Jacobsen as Mai-Britt Nilsen – Aksel and Erik’s mother
** Lena Endre as Eva Hansteen – a businesswoman
** Ingar Helge Gamle as William Hansteen – a businessman - Eva’s husband
** Henrik Rafaelsen as Lars Hansteen – Eva and William’s son
** Ellen Dorrit Petersen as Inger Moen Hansteen – director of the local hotel - Lars’ wife
** Susanne Boucher as Helene Hansteen – Lars and Inger’s daughter
The second group
** Synnøve Mandy Lund as Tonje Sandvik – a researcher at Solar Tech
** Øystein Røger as Finn Kristoffersen - chief of police
** Elaine Tan as Angeline Borgen – Aksel’s wife from Malaysia
** Mathias Romano as Tim Borgen – Angeline and Aksel’s son
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. This is why I am not going to say much about what happens in this drama. I will merely tell you how the story begins:
Aksel - a Norwegian man who lives and works in Asia – returns to the small Norwegian town which he left almost 20 years earlier. In 1995, he was accused of killing his high school sweetheart (Karine).
He was found guilty and sent to prison. But one year later, a witness (Tonje) came forward and gave him an alibi. There was a second trial and this time he was acquitted. Hence the title of the series.
When the second trial was over, he decided to leave Norway altogether. He moved to Malaysia where he changed his last name from Nilsen to Borgen and where he became a successful businessman. He also married a local woman, Angeline. Together they have a son, Tim.
In 2015, he is invited to come back. The life of the small town is based on a single company (Solar Tech) that produces solar panels. And right now, this company is in deep trouble: it is facing bankruptcy, which means that the whole town is in danger.
William, one of the major shareholders, calls Aksel in Malaysia and asks him to come back and save the company and the town.
At first, Aksel hesitates. But after a while, he decides to go. Once he is back in his old home town, he discovers that the past is not forgotten at all. The whole thing starts all over.
Is he guilty? Or is he innocent? If he is innocent, then who killed Karine? There are many accusations and many suspicions. New information and new evidence keep popping up, so the viewer does not know what to believe.
Most people in the town think that Aksel is guilty, even though he was acquitted, but there are a few who believe that he is innocent.
[Karine is the daughter of Eva and William; and the sister of Lars. She is never seen in the drama, but on occasion we see an old photo of her. She looks just like Helene, the grandchild of Eva and William.]
This is how the story begins and this is where my presentation ends. If you want to know what happens to Aksel and the people around him, if you want to know the truth about who did it, you will have to watch the drama all the way to the end.
There is some kind of conclusion at the end of the first season, but the story is not over.
In season two the whole thing starts again. To find out the whole truth you will have to watch season two as well.
The story about Aksel and the murder of Karine may seem far-fetched, but it is inspired by real events: the case of Birgitte Tengs, a young Norwegian woman, who was found murdered and raped in her home town in May 1995.
Birgitte was only 17 years old when this happened. Her cousin was accused of the crime. He was put on trial and found guilty, but later there was a second trial and this time he was acquitted.
Once the trial was over, he left Norway and lived abroad for a long time. Later, he came back to Norway. He was offered a job in a bank, but when the owners of the bank discovered his identity, he was fired.
He sued the bank. He said he wanted compensation and his job back. He won compensation, but he did not get his job back.
Later, he found another job. He still lives somewhere in Norway. As far as I know, he works as an engineer. It seems the Norwegian reporters have decided to leave him alone. They do not disturb him anymore. But the case has never been solved. Who killed Birgitte Tengs? There is no real answer to this question.
If you google the name Birgitte Tengs, you will find many items about the case. While most of them are in Norwegian, there are some in English.
What do reviewers say about the television drama?
On IMDb it has a rating of 74 per cent, which corresponds to 3.7 stars on Amazon.
On Amazon there are at the moment six ratings of this product, four with reviews.
The average rating is 4.3 stars which corresponds to a rating of 86 percent.
As you can see, the ratings are quite good. But if you ask me, they are too low.
Why?
I have four reasons:
# 1. The script is well-written
# 2. The actors play their roles well
# 3. The story is captivating, dramatic, and often highly emotional
# 4. The drama is inspired by true events
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
*****
See my review of season 2
*****
Acquitted
A Norwegian television series
A crime story and a murder mystery
Season 1 with 10 episodes
2015
*****
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