The Bridge - The Complete Season 1 - DVD

Movie: On the Bridge of the Americas between El Paso and Juarez, the body of a woman is found right on the border between the United States and Mexico. Since the body of the dead lies exactly on the border, the case concerns both the American and the Mexican police. And so the Mexican Marco Ruiz (Demian Bichir) and the American Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) become a complicated forced partnership, whose work is made even more difficult by the fact that the case proves to be far more difficult than initially thought. For, as it turns out, the dead body is in two parts, the top half belonging to an El Paso judge, the bottom to a young woman from Juarez murdered several months ago. The killer's act is ostensibly intended to call attention to the injustice that a dead white woman from El Paso is apparently more important than the thousands of dead girls Juarez has to mourn year after year. But the murder on the bridge was just the beginning of a cruel game in which the unknown killer always seems to be one step ahead of the mismatched investigative duo...

The huge success of the Swedish-Danish crime series The Bridge quickly sparked interest in a U.S. adaptation. In the spirit of the original, this was then to be set on the US-Canadian border. But after initial planning, this idea was scrapped and the action was moved to the Bridge of the Americas and the border area between the USA and Mexico. This allowed the makers to stick closely to the plot framework of the original on the one hand, while at the same time filling their version with ideas all their own. And of course, the many problems that exist in this region provide the perfect material for this. This decision proves to be a great stroke of luck for The Bridge - America. On the one hand, it gives the series its very own atmosphere, and on the other hand, it can also create excitement for viewers who have already seen the Swedish-Danish original.

The series is absolutely convincing visually and dramaturgically. But the actors were also very well chosen. While Diane Kruger can't really hold a candle to her series counterpart Sofia Helin, especially since her crankiness is toned down considerably over the course of the first season and she comes across as downright normal in some scenes. No question, Kruger plays well, but she just can't stand up to direct comparison with Helin. Oscar-nominated Demian Bichir is a different story, delivering a similarly convincing performance as Kim Bodnia, whose character Martin Rohde is modeled after Bichir's Ruiz. But the rest of the cast, including Ted Levine, Annabeth Gish and Matthew Lillard, also elevate the series to a pleasantly high level of acting.

As with the original, The Bridge - America is concerned not only with solving the murder case that introduces the series, but also with the psyches of its main characters. This makes the whole thing not only extremely suspenseful, but also extremely involving on an emotional level. Sure, it's arguable whether remakes like this are even necessary, especially since the original series is truly international in scope and still ongoing. But given that the creators have chosen a path that allows them to eventually break away from the original more and more and go their own way, The Bridge - America absolutely has a right to exist. A thrilling, atmospheric and very well acted series that lovers of first class US crime fare should not miss. Absolutely worth watching!

Picture + Sound: The DVD's picture captures the atmosphere of the series superbly. If the action on the Danish-Swedish border tended to be dominated by cold, pared-down colors, warm, earthy, dirty tones dominate the action here. Overall sharpness is at a high level and especially in the brighter outdoor scenes, detail is also absolutely convincing. The sound is dominated at many moments by the rather centrally mixed dialogue, but every now and then smaller and larger sound effects ensure that audible life is also added to the surrounds. Good!

Extras: For the pilot episode, the first DVD features an audio commentary by Diane Kruger, Demian Bichir and series creators Elwood Reed and Meredith Stiehm. The entertaining commentary reveals, among other things, where the series was shot and in what aspects they decided to clearly differentiate from the original series. It's commendable that German subtitles are optionally available to accompany the commentary.

The remaining extras are on the fourth disc. Starting things off here is a featurette on the making of the series (approx. 19:46 min.), which also discusses the differences between it and the original. The True Story of the Bridge of the Americas. Told by the NY Times' Mexico correspondent (approx. 9:09 min.) is also on the supplemental program, which is well worth watching, as are eleven dropped scenes (approx. 20:02 min.) from various episodes of the season. Good!

Conclusion: The Bridge - America is an extremely successful adaptation of the Danish-Swedish thriller series The Bridge. The makers of the US version manage the feat of on the one hand keeping close to the original, but on the other hand also going their own way with a special atmosphere and new storylines. Thus, the end result is extremely exciting, entertaining and thrilling even for viewers who know the original. The DVD box set presents the episodes of the first season in very good picture and sound quality and also has some extras on board that are worth seeing. For this there is a very clear: Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp