Bestseller ‘Smilla’s Sense of Snow’ is now an icy mystery series

When an Inuk boy's death is ruled an accident, a scientist investigates on her own in this post-colonial thriller based on the internationally best-selling Danish novel.

Fillippa Coster-Waldau as Smilla Jaspersen in 'Smilla's Sense of Snow'

Filippa Coster-Waldau as Smilla Jaspersen in 'Smilla's Sense of Snow' Credit: Andrej Vasilenko

In a not-so-distant future, in the wide, wind-swept streets of Denmark, citizens wear sleek, shiny bodycams every time they leave their homes. The invasive devices must be pinned to their collars like diamond-encrusted brooches, buzzing and alive like jewelled beetles with large, black eyes.

Drones hum over the heads of these citizens, scanning their faces and body language. Children play in snow, and parents reminisce of a world where this was common, where temperatures weren’t too warm and energy was affordable rather than a luxury. Holographic ads obscure paths to grab attention while government officials’ booming voices announce citizens must pass loyalty screening tests to access their voting privileges. TV screens air interviews with distinguished-looking Nordic men who claim western conquest “brought enlightenment to the primitive world”. As “DANISH POWER FOR DANISH PEOPLE” protests erupt, newer immigrants are reminded that they must partake in additional loyalty screenings or risk their voting rights being suspended.

It is in this world, in which digital surveillance and colonialism are embedded and intertwined into the fabric of society, that we are introduced to scientist Smilla Jasperson (played by upcoming Danish actress Filippa Coster-Waldau, and if that name sounds familiar, you’re right; her father is Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and her mother Greenland-born actress Nukâka Coster-Waldau, seen recently in The Wheel of Time), the key character in six-part series Smilla's Sense Of Snow.

Of course, this series isn’t the first time the world has met Smilla. The story is adapted from the international bestselling 1992 book Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow. Danish author Peter Hoeg’s literary thriller (published under the title Smilla’s Sense of Snow in some markets) was named Time’s Book of the Year in 1993, and was made into a film starring Julia Ormond (plus high-profile names including Gabriel Byrne and Jim Broadbent) in 1997.

Now BAFTA-winning screenwriter and director Amma Asante (Belle, The Handmaid’s Tale, A United Kingdom) has created a TV version that shifts the action from Hoeg’s original setting of the 1980s to Copenhagen in 2040.

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Filippa Coster-Waldau stars in Smilla's Sense of Snow. Credit: Constantin Film

The product of a brief union between a wealthy Danish doctor and an Inuk hunter, Smilla’s existence is steeped in conflict. She feels anger at her father’s colonial heritage and grief at the loss of her ties to her Inuk ancestors. She is, in many ways, untethered – from her birthplace in Greenland and from her life in Copenhagen where she feels like an imposter. The latter is also complicated when she is embraced by racist anti-immigration protesters. “Don’t feel left out,” they tell her. “We claimed Greenland a long time ago. You’re still ours.”

It’s perhaps this feeling of alienation that draws her to Isaiah, a little Inuk boy who lives in her apartment building. Smilla feels protective of Isaiah and reluctantly keeps an eye on him. Despite her discomfort and awkwardness, they become friendly and he affirms her Inuk heritage.

But not long after Smilla gets to know Isaiah, he is found dead under mysterious circumstances. Despite the near-constant surveillance the building is subjected to, no one seems to have any answers as to what happened – it seems cameras are only useful at catching illegal immigrants, not murderers of little Inuk boys. To Smilla’s dismay, Isaiah’s death is ruled an unfortunate accident – though police make pointed, racist comments attributing the death to issues of abuse or neglect.

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Smilla searches for answers. Credit: Constantin Film

Frustrated by the injustice of it all, Smilla begins to investigate Isaiah’s death on her own. She is visited by visions of Isaiah’s spirit, like the dreams she would have back in Greenland, and he leads her to a suspicious cover up of a disastrous expedition funded by an energy company. Soon, the web of mystery becomes more convoluted, but this crime thriller isn’t just about Isaiah’s death – it’s about the crime of colonialism itself, of the destruction of sacred land, animals and people which was the original sin, and one that has never been granted real justice.

Much like environmental destruction, digital surveillance is one of the most pressing issues of our time but also one that we avoid thinking about because it is so ubiquitous. The same could be said about colonialism and all the invisible ways it shapes our lives in a society that believes it to be a horror of the past.

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Elyas M'barek plays Smilla's neighbour, Rahid Youseffi. Credit: Constantin Film

Smilla's Sense of Snow is uncanny, dream-like in its exploration of the systemic inequalities imposed by colonialism, and how digital surveillance via drones and bodycams might seem like ways to capture truth, but instead may further blur it. It interrogates the purpose of these technologies which only amplify inequality: how can increased digitisation be liberating when it can be used by one class to further marginalise another? Why don’t we ever get to gaze back at those watching us?

The year 2040 is not that far away, and Smilla’s Sense of Snow masterfully paints a vivid picture of what the world will look like if we don’t challenge the forces that are alienating us from reality, and reckon with the sordid history that has led to our present.

Smilla's Sense of Snow is airing Wednesday nights on SBS, with episodes also available each week at SBS On Demand.