People of my generation probably never heard of Sam Peckinpah (often quoted as Bloody Sam) unless you are a film fanatic or a student. Peckinpah was never afraid of painting violence in his film. In fact most of his films pushed the boundaries of the medium as in The Wild Bunch, The Getaway (1972), Straw Dogs. People often remember him as a director of westerns when most of his contribution is towards the modern cinema as we know it today.
I happen to catch Straw Dogs today on DVD and having seen Peckinpah's previous body of work realized why critics are polarized when it comes to his films.
Straw Dogs is about a quiet American academic who moves to his wife's English country home where trouble with locals increases the tension resulting in the final powder keg.
More than violence the film is about the nature of violence.
When the film was released in theaters it generated a lot of controversy both in terms of violence and for the infamous rape scene. This film along with some other controversial films (Clockwork Orange) released same time heralded the new age of graphic violence in the cinema. Great filmmakers were never afraid and will never be afraid in their experimentation with violence. After all it is a hard but known fact of our society.
Dustin Hoffman really pulled off the role of David Sumner in the film. It was a great and naturalistic performance. Susan George also did justice (not great though) to the role of Amy.
The cinematography was simple and serviceable.
The editing is where the film championed. One particular instant is the church scene. The juxtapositions of violent imagery of rape and magic tricks of Reverend were really disturbing. From Amy's point of view it was reliving the nightmare again and again. The editing style almost reminded me of Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now or even opening scene of Peckinpah's Getaway. It was an effective attempt at Kuleshov's technique.
David Sumner's character arc is well-defined. From a coward academic he becomes an ultra-violent person when his home and his family were threatened. His calmness in the third act was almost menacing and you always think, "Why the hell is this guy acting so calm?". I think people will always have a differing opinion what really is happening inside his head -- was he in control or in a state of denial / shock. Another question was why is he hell-bent on saving the crazy person. There were all such kind of questions and thankfully were never answered. A good filmmaker always gives a glimpse of a character but never defines his or her boundaries. David is a guy like us an academic or a normal white-collar professional. In order to understand his psychology try imagining yourself in the same shoes and probably you might understand what's happening.
Amy's character was great but didn't had the kind of arc you would be expecting. But that's OK. The film is not about Amy's reaction but a case study about our tendency towards violence.
Jim Morrison quoted “Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence”. Thankfully I don't agree with the second part.
There is a great essay about Straw Dogs at criterion (Publisher of the world's best cinema on DVD and Blu-ray):
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/259-home-like-no-place-peckinpahs-straw-dogs
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