MovieChat Forums > Luftslottet som sprängdes (2010) Discussion > What was the Section actually covering u...

What was the Section actually covering up?

posted 12 years ago by jbaddock
8 replies | jump to latest

Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but I couldn't actually figure out exactly what the Section was covering up. There was a reference to a 'constitutional crisis' more than once, but I don't recall it ever being explained - and it certainly didn't seem to bother anyone else in terms of arresting them and bringing it all out into the open. Was it simply that their defector became involved in criminal activities and they didn't want the connection to come out? Hardly a constitutional crisis - and wouldn't it have been easier simply to kill him (which is what they did in the end anyway) and make it look like a gangland hit? Or were they simply trying to protect their own anonymity? Did the book explain it better?

Basically, I liked the first story (TGWTDT) but the next two (which were basically parts 1 and 2 of the same story) didn't really do it for me.

[–] beja-4 12 years ago

No it wasn't that simple. The group called The Section was a group within the Security Police - SÄPO- which was secretly established during The Cold War and had Zalachenko as an active spy and Swedish informer during that time. So that pretty much was the 'constitutional crisis'if that came out. I'll have to admit I had a hard time to follow it all, sometimes what seemed like lose ends and I'm from Sweden so no subtitles.

This secret group, the Section, was devoted to protecting Zalachenko who now was retired to not reveal anything what's been going on during that time. They were also responsible for Lisbeth being committed to St. Stefan's children's psychiatric hospital in 1991, where she was subsequently declared incompetent to protect Zala. That's why Teleborian is involved in the group to cover up and lie about Lisbeth's mental condition. Gullberg who was the head of the secret group meets up with other members of the Section. They hatch a plot to have Salander committed to an insane asylum for life. I'm not sure if the group decided to kill Zala at the hospital, I think it was Gullberg's own idea as he shot himself afterwards.

[–] Zamps 12 years ago

"The group called The Section was a group within the Security Police - SÄPO- which was secretly established during The Cold War and had Zalachenko as an active spy and Swedish informer during that time"

Yes, but what did they actually do?

[–] beja-4 12 years ago

Lisbeth's father Zalachenco was a russian defector who was recruited to the Section during the Cold War. Noone else in the gouvernment knew about him or the Section. Only the head of SÄPO (the Swedish Security Police) and one other man were aware the organisation existed. Zala and several others worked with to identify spies. Hunt them down and identify. The history tell us there were recruitments of assasinators after WWII from the concentration camps to different spy sections within the allied countries. And Sweden was suppose to be a neutral country. Nevertheless not a specially "moral country" during the war but more or less a turncoat and had a certain collaboration with the Nazis. It was first later on, when the war was over and the allied had "won", when we didn't let the Germans drive through our country like we had during the war and no longer take our raw material. Instead we beagan to help for example the Jews. But by then it was clear that the political climate amongst the Swedish politicians had changed.

By the time this happens the Section is mostly working with terrosism since the realpolitical aspect is different since The Soviet Union fell. To decern if a person is suitable in a special position or assignment. And remember Sweden is still suppose to be a neutral country.

So when Lisbeth's mother dies, caused by the violence she had been exposed to by Zala's physical abuse, the Section is now very eager to protect him from not blow the whistle on their activity. And therefore have Lisbeth commited for life at a mental institution as she witnessed what Zala did to her mother. As they're also responsible from the start why she, as a 13 years old girl was commited in a mental institution and kept there several years.

[–] jbaddock 12 years ago

Thanks for this, but... how much of this was explained in the TV series, though? (I'm assuming the book did actually supply an explanation). The problem was that it was difficult to see what the Section was actually doing beyond preserving Zala's secret - and they certainly seemed to go to extreme lengths to do so. And, sorry, I can't see how finding out that Sweden was using a Soviet defector against terrorism would bring about a 'constitutional crisis', i.e one that would bring down the Government (who didn't seem to know about it anyway). There certainly wasn't any feeling of impending doom at the end once the story had come out. The feeling I had was that the Section were simply trying to protect themselves, long after Zala had outlived his usefulness.

[–] beja-4 12 years ago

You're welcome! That's the thing though, they didn't explain it in details in the TV series, the plot was quite hard to follow. I was going to write that as well cause I had no memory of them explaining what they actually did.

I got quite confused and had to skim through the book yesterday and found the chapter where they talked about what they did. Not even then is it thoroughly described. In the chapter they say that the Section is a quite big organisation with 38 persons working. So for a country like Sweden with 9 million people, having a secret organisation doing whatever they want to do, within SÄPO, the Security Police which itself is a more or less a secret organisation, I believe it would cause a'constitutional crisis' if that came out. SÄPO is like MI6 or CIA and as the average person you don't know anything what's going on inside those doors. Imagine to have an additional top secret organisation within the already secret organisation, working without the government or MI6 or CIA knowing about it.

We have had 3 persons revealed, working for The Soviet Union as spies in Sweden the last 30 years. That's nothing really but who knows what goes on behind closed doors. And who were in charged of their comission one might wonder. And it became an outcry when people/media found out. I know Larsson was well conversant when it came to these questions. I have a vauge memory reading about that there is some sort of truth behind this in the movie.

I talked about it with a friend yesterday and he said; "Does it matter what they did? The most important thing in the plot was to show that they were responsible for what had happened to Lisbeth as in protecting Zala for killing his wife and have his daughter commited to a mental institution for life."

[–] ErlandGadde 12 years ago

The conflict with the official neutral policy was of little significance. Most people knew that Sweden, although officially neutral, used to cooperate with NATO about intelligence.
They covered up the events when Lisbeth set fire to Zalachenko and locked her up at a children's psychaiatric clinic because they feared that otherwise, the existense of the Section and their cover ups of his previous crimes, such as his long time abuse of Lisbeth's mother, would be revealed, and this would put an end to the Section. Recall that the Section was a part of the Security Police that was kept secret to almost everyone, including the governement, except in the beginning. And this was unconstitutional. And even if the cold war was almost over when Lisbeth set fire to Zalachenko, it was not over during the years before, when Zalachenko was used as an informer about spies. They felt they needed Zalachenko and covered up all his crimes during all this time.

[–] BB-15 12 years ago

My interpretation; and I haven't read the books and I don't speak Swedish (I'm from the US).

"Was it simply that their defector became involved in criminal activities and they didn't want the connection to come out?"

I thought that was part of it. Zalachenko was a criminal who dealt in drugs and prostitutes. He was a murderer. And The Section covered this up.

"Hardly a constitutional crisis..."

And Watergate was just a third rate burglary and yet a President of the US had to resign over it.

- As shown from some political crises in the US, it is often the coverup more than the original crime that gets government officials further into trouble. And a coverup can involve many people in the highest levels of government.

From the movie in the 1970s the Prime Minister's office stopped tracking The Section.
1. The Section was out of control which is a huge problem in a democracy.
2. The Section was getting their money direct from the Finance Minstry. That would be a scandal.
3. The Section corrupted a psychiatric facility. That would also be a scandal since basic human rights were being violated.

Imo it seemed if the public knew about The Section and Zalachenko, not only would the entire operation be shut down but people in the highest reaches of the government such as from the Finance Ministry would have to resign.

To me that was the constitutional crisis.

BB ;-)

it's just in my opinion - imo -

[–] mal karma 12 years ago

The Section was covering up Zalachenko's hardcore criminal activities and immoral behaviour because they needed him, and they were enojying a power and anonimacy they probably did not want to lose, until it was too late. They could have Zalachenko killed way before but it seemed to be an extreme measure even to them. They were willing to look the other way on regards to their protege's criminal life as long as they had some benefit.

"That was a courtesy flush. I'm not actually done yet"