Dogtooth

Certainly one of the more surprising moments of the 2010 Academy Award nominations had to be the inclusion of the Greek oddity "Dogtooth" among the Best Foreign Film nominees. This psychological freak show seems designed to polarize audiences with its controversial presentation of an isolated family as a horror construct. The film, with relatively no political or social context, is likely to be interpreted in many ways by viewers searching for a grand significance to the proceedings. Having seen the film twice now, however, I'm not sure that I can really establish the filmmaker's true intentions with any veracity. So I won't try. Somewhere between perverse satire, bent domestic drama, and disturbing psychological horror lies the film "Dogtooth"--a challenging and unrepentantly bleak, yet undeniably gripping and fascinating, example of experimental cinema.

"Dogtooth" depicts the unorthodox life of one family. The three teenage children have been raised in a controlled environment in which they've seemingly never left the family's secluded estate. Subjected to the teaching of their parents, they know nothing of the real dangers or inherent freedoms available in the outside world. As their story unfolds, in horrifying daily detail, the complete destruction of their psyches, intelligence, and individuality at the hands of their parents is absolutely repellant. This truly is one of the more disturbing depictions of psychological torture (even if the kids don't know it!) that has ever been captured on film. Not graphically violent, but emotionally disconcerting, this film will insinuate itself into your mind--and it's absolutely unsettling. One girl, in particular, starts to act out in increasingly violent ways and, as much as we do want to protect them, kids will grow up to experience life in ways we might not have intended.

To be sure, I love to be surprised by film--the more offbeat or skewed the better. In describing a movie's narrative for others, I try to only paint a picture in broad strokes and not spoil the mysteries yet to unfold. That's why I've been purposefully vague in my description (although, there is some controversial sexual content which might offend certain viewers). With "Dogtooth," however, I might make a disclaimer. This will not be a film for everyone--those that dislike "Dogtooth" will invariably hate it with every fiber of their being! Those that like "Dogtooth," however, will be caught up in a story unlike any other. I was unable to pull my eyes away from this film. Like a disturbing nightmare, my curiosity kept me glued to the every frame of this movie. It is well acted and well made--but this is just a caution to more sensitive viewers. "Dogtooth" disturbed and confounded me, in almost every way, but I was unable to tear myself away from its sick allure. KGHarris, 1/11.

****1/2

What if you could be the master of your own universe, able to make everything to your own specifications and liking? And what if, in that universe, you could have absolute control over your subjects, so that, not only would they have to do what you told them to, but you could even go so far as to shape the very way they look at the world?

The unnamed middle-aged protagonist (Christos Stergioglou) of "Dogtooth" has created just such a kingdom for himself and his wife (Michelle Valley), tucked away in a rural area of Greece, where the two of them have raised their children - a boy (Christos Passalis) and two girls (Aggelika Papoulia, Mary Tsoni) who are all now in their late teens - in such complete isolation that the kids have virtually no knowledge of the world that lies beyond the fenced-in little compound in which they live. They know only that it is a dangerous and scary place and that none of them will be able to venture out into it until their dogtooth falls out - which is to say never. They are so misinformed as to how the real world actually works that they think planes are just tiny objects moving through the air, and that if one of those tiny objects were to fall out of the sky and into their yard, the children would be able to pick it up and play with it like a toy. They've also been taught by their colluding parents to believe that prowling cats are a mortal menace to be destroyed on sight. The kids spend much of the day doing repetitive chores, playing meaningless games and being taught an incorrect vocabulary (they use the word "phone" when they really mean "salt," for example). The father regularly pays a young woman (Anna Kalaitzidu) he works with - the only person from the outside world the children are allowed to meet - to come and have sex with his post-pubescent son, and severely beats the kids every time they step out of line.

A stunning allegory about the evils of totalitarianism, "Dogtooth" is somewhat reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" in its basic premise and setup, only here the guiding principle seems to be less about protecting the young ones from the harsh realities of a modern world and more about this one man's finding a way to achieve a kind of apotheosis for himself - making himself a god in the eyes of his children. For not only does he make them reliant on him for all the basic necessities of life, but he's made it so that they accept without question the "truths" of the physical and moral order he's established for them to live by.

The man and his wife have together inverted and perverted the very definition of parenthood. Rather than grooming their children for an adult life in the real world, these parents deliberately infantilize their offspring, making it virtually impossible for them to leave the home and start a life of their own. This ensures that the kids will be there to take care of them for the rest of their lives.

On a broader scale, the movie is a searing indictment of the power of propaganda, showing how easy it is to mislead people and to compel them to do what one wants simply by feeding them false information and, thus, skewing their view of realty and the truth. And isn't this how totalitarian dictatorships are born and sustained? But there's also an innate desire for liberty and independence lurking in the recesses of every human soul that must finally assert itself in a desperate run for freedom, and the movie addresses that reality as well.

The movie is both raw and provocative as it takes on some rather touchy sexual themes - mainly involving incest - that some in the audience may find disturbing and discomfiting to put it mildly. There's also a fair amount of full-frontal nudity, brutal violence and more-than-simulated sex scenes in the movie.

Yorgos Lanthimos' direction is spare and stripped-down, as befits a parable, with off-kilter visual framing that heightens the bizarre nature of the piece.

"Dogtooth" is unnerving, thought-provoking and provocative - and a must-see for the unconventional, adventurous movie-watcher.

Dogtooth

A mid level industrialist raises his family in an environment devoid of most modern conveniences but imbued with a special hatred of airliners. The telephone is carefully hidden, only his wife knows where it is, a fence erected around the house is also a boundary the children and wife have never trespassed, but most of all, in order to keep his the two daughters and son uncorrupted, (their hatred of airliners and the people who fly on them apparently doesn't count) they have been taught a sanitized language where "zombie" is "a small yellow flower" and the female reproductive region is known as "keyboard". Periodically, the industrialist pimps for the boy, and for a price, procures the services of Christina, a security guard at the plant.

Just when Director Giorgos Lanthimos seems to remove all limits to the level of parental control, Christina shows an interest not only in the boy but also the two sisters, conferring on one of them VHS tapes of Rocky, Jaws and other classics in exchange for libidinous favors. The daughter, of course, emulates what she sees and hears on the tapes, and such an obvious clash of cultures ensues that it changes the relationships in the household. All of this sets up the question: does the influence on children come from parenting or from the culture around us? The film's answers seem ambiguous and unsatisfying. Thimios Bakatakis' camerawork is good but not inspired - we want some kind of resolution at the film's end, and Bakatakis seems determined not to give us one.

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