We tend to think of Sweden as one of the more progressive nations, but in 1958 there were traces of misogyny among the police. During a shortage of police officers in Sweden it was decided to experiment with women.
After a brief period of training several women were brought to a Stockholm district station and paired off with male officers to evaluate them. As you might imagine there was some resentment and over the course of a few months some of the resentment eased.
In the first episode events took Carin to a brothel that led to a prostitute's murder, a coverup and trying to work with another prostitute to pursue a suspect.
Another female officer Siv trying to help, lied to a detective in the pursuit of the suspect who was a brothel owner. This resulted in some confusion and entanglement with the detective.
A third female officer, Ingrid (close friend of the other two) became involved with male officers trying to discourage her by their rough house ways of handling criminals.
There were political factions among the more senior officers. One hoped the experiment would work while another was set against the effort. Carin had an upper class boyfriend whose mother was very snobby about her son's choice of a girlfriend.
The plot weaves through six episodes with the final one full of surprises. As women are integral to most western police departments you won't be too surprised, but the struggle is not over.
Some IMDB reviewers commented on what they considered inappropriate music that intruded every now and then and it took away from their respect for the film. It was described as hip hop in one review and I would agree it would have been better to have some 60's rock n roll to depict the time. However there was enjoyable background music (one segment I bought).
This series makes a good point of the feminist struggle going beyond the institutional battles to the personal prejudice encountered in their social lives. Credit is well deserved and here are a few contributors.
Rojda Sekersoz was listed as a conceptual director. She has 7 directing credits and 3 for writing.
Julia Lindstrom was the director. She has 8 directing credits, 2 for writing and 1 for editing.
Patrik Ehrnst was the writer. He has 7 credits for writing, 6 for producing and 1 for the editorial department.
Iryna Gmeyner was the composer. She has performed musically under the
name April Snow. For this film she collaborated with pianist Martin
Hederos. Iryna has 8 composer credits, 3 for the music department and 1
for acting.
Andres Lennartsson was the cinematographer. He got some of his experience living in Prague, Czech Republic before returning to Sweden. He has 34 cinematography credits.
Sofia Lindgren was the editor. She has 61 editor credits, 9 for the editorial department and 1 for the script and continuity department including 11 episodes of "The Bridge" (2011).
Agnes Raes played Siv. She had 8 acting credits.
Josif Asplund played Carina. She started in musical theater at age 6 until her teen years. She has 19 acting credits including the English version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2011). I saw the Swedish version.
Malin Perrson played Ingrid. She has 24 acting credits.
Hannes Fohlin, played Oscar, the detective. He has 30 acting credits.
Rasmus Luthander played Carina's boyfriend Arne. He has 20 acting credits including "Let the Right One In" (2008). See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/06/swedish-movies.html that includes a paragraph on "Let the Right One In" plus other Swedish memorable films.
Domink Henzel, played Carl Fischer, the officer against female participation. He is well known for tv. commericals and being a standup comedian. He has 28 acting credits.
Leonard Terfelt played Jack the brothel owner. He has 18 acting credits including "The Bridge" (2011).
Women have made a lot of progress around the world. We sometimes forget there have been countless battles. "The New Force" can be seen on Netflix subtitled or dubbed.
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