 |
| Andrew reviews the 2009 feature, Dogtooth. |
 |
| "Would you like to finger paint?" |
Part
of being a parent is knowing not only how to shield your budding children from
the evils of the outside world, but also learning how far to let them wander
and explore on their own before electing to tug the leash and corral the
kiddies back to the nest. You can either
be too strict and overprotective with how much Earth and life your young
absorb, or you can be lackadaisical and irresponsible by letting them run wild
and undisciplined. It's a tricky task
and a learning experience any way you slice it, and finding a midpoint is key
to being a successful mother or father.
But we often can't help but wonder about the families that take either
approach to parenting to extremes, being too hard or loose on your children,
and what a family functioning that way would look like.
Greek
filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos answers that question with his surreal and
provocative 2009 shocker 'Dogtooth' with what is most likely the most
repressive home school parenting ever captured on film. In it, two sisters and a son spend their
daily existence locked in their homestead, with a large gate and tall walls
preventing entry or exit for the family.
The mother stays behind while the father drives to and from work in the
factory. The father himself behaves like
an alien when he enters the outside world, saying very little with an
unblinking stare as fellow humans drone on talking at him. With exception to
home movies, the nameless family members don't watch TV, don't listen to the
radio, are taught occasional cats who scale the walls are deadly man-eaters,
and that airplanes flying overhead are toys.
They're reminded regularly of a brother they have never met having
scaled the walls. Everyone speaks to
each other with stilted dialogue and as the youngsters mature into young
adults, sexual curiosity has no taboo or meaning. Next to Cronenberg's “Cosmopolis”, these are
some of the most bloodless creatures seen onscreen in recent memory. Only when an elder loses their canine
'dogtooth' are they mature enough to leave the household, with the parents'
counting on that day never arriving.
 |
| "Family bath time is just the best!" |
Largely
shot in long takes with wide angle lenses, the ordinary family household has
never looked more sterile and warped at the same time. It's a bit like being a fly on the wall and
the explicit sexual content only serves to further unnerve the viewer, largely
due to the context and dispassion on display.
That it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language
Film is even more shocking. Whether one
can come away having said they 'enjoyed' the experience of bearing witness to
familial imprisonment, you could read 'Dogtooth' as a penultimate teen
rebellion film. A desire to break free
of the routine browbeaten upon the children begins to form within the viewer
over the course of the film. The ability
to think and decide for yourself is a tool absent from the lives of these
children, deprived by parents afraid of their young making self-destructive
decisions. However alien these kids may
seem, we too were young once and were sheltered from the sins of the
world.
The question becomes whether or
not corruption through life experience really is so detrimental to our natural
development and maturation as normal human beings. More importantly, is keeping your child pure
and free from sin in and of itself a form of corruption?
-Andrew Kotwicki