Aahana Swrup
In ‘Land of the Sin’, the setting of the crime series becomes as instrumental to the plot as the characters and their narratives. The story centers on the missing person case of one Silas, from a family of farmers in Bjäre, rural Sweden. Hailing from a family of farmers and entrenched in less-than-legal entanglements, the young man’s disappearance is overflowing with mystery. Therefore, when his dead body is eventually discovered, it sets the authorities up for an intriguing murder investigation. The officers on the case are Dani Anttila and her new partner Malik. The former has pre-existing ties to Silas, which make her unpopular and, to some extent, unwelcome in the Scania area. Nonetheless, she might be the only one with enough skin in the game to unravel the reality behind the puzzling murder. Synden, the titular land, with a generational history of feuds and rivalries behind it, serves as a notable location in this crime thriller as it shapes the past, present, and future of Silas’ family and their motives.
Bjäre Peninsula is a Real Location That Informs the Show’s Thematic Identity
‘Land of Sin’ is largely a work of fiction created by Peter Grönlund. However, without a direct counterpart in reality for its plotlines and characters, the show still manages to achieve grounded storytelling, mostly through its authentic setting. The story explored in the show is of a tight-knit community and intergenerationally feuding families that takes place in the real location of the Bjäre Peninsula, known in Swedish as Bjärehalvön. The area is a notable addition in Sweden’s southern province, Scania, also known as Skåne. The peninsula is located in the northern area of Scania. It is known for its scenic hills, defining topographical slopes, and coastal regions.
Reportedly, in an effort to capture the reality of this location, which remains foundational to the series, Grönlund and his creative team chose to film the project in the real Skåne County in Sweden. This on-site approach allowed the on-screen visuals of the Bjäre Peninsula area to capture the authenticity of the countryside region. As the show’s creator discussed in a conversation with Filter Magazine, he has an inclination toward visually interesting locations. “I am drawn to places that have a lot of patina, where there may have been a flourishing prosperity in the form of a mill, but which is now depopulated,” He said in the interview, originally conducted in Swedish. Therefore, Skåne County’s Bjäre Peninsula, with its rural backdrop and Bronze Age heritage, became the ideal background for the story.
Synden is a Fictional Location That Becomes a Foundational Pillar For the Show
In the development of ‘Land of Sin,’ Peter Grönlund reportedly conducted his own research into the Scania area of Sweden. Therefore, he came to learn about the feuds that made up the folklore of towns in the countryside, which stemmed from family conflicts that were passed down from generation to generation. Eventually, this became a key aspect of the series, informing the thematic and plot-based narrative of the central murder mystery. Synden, which translates to “The Sin” in English (and is also the original title of the Swedish show), is the farmland that has been passed down to three brothers through an unequal inheritance.
As a result, Silas’ father, Ivar, remained entrenched in a feud with his brother, Elis, the owner of the land, for much of his life. In time, this rivalry gets passed down to the other members of the family, setting them up for an intergenerational feud. Nonetheless, despite their complications, Elis devotes himself to uncovering Silas’ murderer and bringing them to justice in light of the discovery of his nephew’s murder. Yet, in the end, the family land is revealed to have played a significant role in Silas’ murder. Therefore, the land becomes a vital element in exploring the nuances of inheritance conflicts and the heavy ways they may manifest in a family’s history across generations.
