Straw Dogs - Movie Comments

It has been a while since I've seen a film that made me want to blog, and it had to be a movie by maverick director, Sam Peckinpah that has forced me back onto the computer.

The film is Straw Dogs and isn't just controversial because it is brutal and violent, but more importantly, it's amoral and turns accepted society on its decapitated head.

In the UK, it was banned on video and DVD until 2002 because of a ambiguous gang rape scene, that has lost none of the impact over 30 years on.

Straw Dogs was released in 1971 and starred Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner, an American mathematician moving to remote Cornwall with his young blonde wife, Amy, played by Susan George. Immediately, David alienates himself from the locals, and his wife, by immersing himself into his work. A blackboard of equations.

Amy is starved of attention and begins chatting to the builders who David is hired to repair parts of his house, included an old flame. The locals are burly. David is meek. They use hammers when working. David uses a pencil. In Peckinpah's universe, tensions always has one outcome. Violence that is both cruel, sexual and bloody.

And some critics say Straw Dogs is an overtly aggressive macho film that debases women and New Yorker critic, Paulie Kale, called it "the first American film that is a fascist work of art". And although you could simplify Peckinpah's politics into "might is right" neanderthal male behaviour, you would be missing the reason to watch it and talk about it.

The reason it's a great film, is that it represents a certain view of the world. It represents a savage vision of society, where men are a few drinks away from strangling cats and raping women, and the only way to respond is standing your ground with bloody force. But it's the reaction of the view to it that is important.

I don't think Peckinpah is trying to persuade the audience to necessary believe the view given by Straw Dogs. The reason I think this is that the film is not a celebrations of violence. There is no winner. The violence is forced and demeans the characters (in my eyes) rather than glorifies it. There is no triumph in the final scene with David. And although Peckinpah could be saying that violence is only neutered by more violence, another reading could be that David's initial passive aggressive attitude and inability to admit the truth, is the reason behind the outcome.

And even if you disagree, then Straw Dogs is clever enough to provide enough ammunition for counter strikes. It's an extreme view which challenges you to think about it. Is it David's fault? Was Amy too naive? Is violence in this case justified? How else could it have ended? Would you have thrown an injured man to the braying pack to save yourself?

It is nearly impossible to say you like Straw Dogs for its story or characters, but what it is is a powerful portrayal of a controversial idea. The idea may offend you, or contradict your own, but it is expertly and intelligently crafted. It forces you to explore yourself and doesn't care what it may find. It's a film that makes you think seriously on serious things, and how often those that happen?

Watching Straw Dogs may not be fun, but your moral fibre will be strengthen from it and is an opportunity for your mind to be exercised.