Dogtooth (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #53 extract: Dogtooth (2009)



Ridiculously brilliant, Dogtooth is, in many respects, a film about childhood and naivety being used against children so that they remain who their parents want them to be. What we then see across this narrative is a selection of games and lessons used to contrive a fake reality - one where the ground outside a home can't be touched, where a zombie is a flower, where your canine falls out and grows back for a second time, an indicator that you are ready to leave your parents. These games become vicious competitions between children whose parents are forced to dehumanise and treat like animals because of the fact that their the plan to raise their children is so ill-conceived and inhuman. 
The final image we are left with is one that asks if these rules can ever be broken after they have been bent; if a child can become an individual after an abuse childhood. A must-see masterpiece that is far from just weird, gross or absurd.

Popular Posts