Denmark, 1927. Rejseholdet, the newly founded special investigations unit, is sent to Esbjerg, where a murder case leads the team into a web of political and commercial corruption among the elites. A visually seductive chunk of suspense entertainment by IFFR darling Christoffer Boe.

In the early 2000s, Dutch audiences were glued to their screens whenever Rejseholdet aired, the wildly beloved Danish police procedural series about a special investigations unit that travels across the country to help solve crimes seemingly beyond the local cops’ capabilities. A quarter century on, filmmaker Christoffer Boe reinvents this television cult drama for cinema – by going back to the squad’s origins in interwar Denmark.

1927. On 23 August, the Rigspolitiets Rejsehold was established, with Otto Himmelstrup as its head. Their first case brings them to Esbjerg, where the political and commercial elites don’t shy away from murder to defend their corrupt schemes. In his previous work, Boe has shown he knows how to deliver the bloody goods when telling a crime story – and here he delivers, big time. Special Unit – The First Murder is a visually seductive prime chunk of suspense entertainment that has a few things to say about the ways the entitled and powerful think they can rule – and how to topple them.

– Olaf Möller

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