I hope you can take the time to watch Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. On December 1 it was issued on Netflix and I made sure to see it right away. Her previous films like An Angel at the Table (1990), The Piano (1993), The Portrait of a Lady (1996) and Bright Star (2009)  have filled me with high expectations whenever something of this New Zealand-Australian director passes by. The Power of the Dog was awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Festival of 2021, and certainly competes for first place on my personal list of the best films of 2021.

We have to wait till the end of the film to fully understand the title. It is a phrase from a bible verse in Psalm 22:20 ”Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog”. It would not have mattered if we hadn’t got it fully explained. The need to be protected for and ultimately to be delivered from the darkness that threatens the soul is obvious throughout the film.

The story is about two brothers on a ranch in Montana in the year 1925. They have inherited the prosperous farm from their parents. Phil is the macho-man, a twisted character, who prides in smelling like a cowboy and likes to denigrate people. He oversees the cowboys and the cattle, castrating a bull with his bare hands. His brother George, called by his brother fatso, is a soft, well-clothed man, who takes care of the books.

While driving cattle they stop at a restaurant where they meet Rose, the widow-owner of the restaurant and her son Peter. While Phil is behaving rudely and mocking them, George is struck by this gentle person and returns the next day to ask her to marry him. She moves into the ranch as George’s wife and the stage is set for much drama with a raging-in-silence Phil, his soft-spoken brother and an overpowered, losing-her-balance Rose and her son Peter whom Phil is set to mock and to psychologically torture.

In the second part, Phil loses more and more control over his self-dominated world. The film is about the dark forces in the soul. Forces that have an origin, often even hidden from the person who is suffering them. Things happen that give glimpses of hidden better sides in Phil, although that is all up to us to observe and conclude. Campion leaves us with indications and possibilities without making them concrete. That is one of the many strengths of the film. The cinematography with beautiful shots is another one.

If there is only one film you manage to see this month, choose this compelling, great film!

Rinus, Dec 2021

*image posted under fair use of copyright material in recommendation of the film

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