The Big Store

11 September 2003: security cameras equipped with X-rays look straight through the shoppers at Nordiska Kompaniet, a big department store in Stockholm. What a clear view of the superficiality of consumer society. The merchandise has disappeared from the shelves, and all we see are completely interchangeable people, each of them in his or her own greedy dream. Withdrawing money, making calls, sliding past one another on the escalator, contentedly giggling at their reflections. None of these walking skeletons knows that at 4:00 p.m., Foreign Minister Anna Lindh will be stabbed in her chest, abdomen and arms in the ladies' department. She was popular and had a good chance of becoming the next prime minister of Sweden, until a young man took her life. We see him first anonymously on the security camera, then worldwide as images of him are disseminated on TV, in newspapers and on the Internet. The man with the baseball cap and Nike sweatshirt from the first shot of the film was apprehended and tried, thanks to the strategically placed cameras. In this manner, the message of the film is ambiguous to say the least.