The Power of the Dog: a modern western with family
dynamics and gay influence
'The Power of the Dog', screenwritten
and directed by Jane Campion and based on the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage, is a
modern 'psychological western' set in Montana in 1925 but actually filmed in
New Zealand. The film, like other
masterpieces in the genre in the past, finds meaning and family story through
the simple instrumentalities of life on the ranch in different times. The title of the film refers to a natural
scenic formation that has hidden significance to some of the characters.
Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) sees himself as
the ultimate macho man rancher, and gradually becomes unnerved when his gentler
brother George (Jesse Plemons) marries widowed Rose Gordon (Kirsten
Dunst). The centerpiece of the family
seems to be the gay son Peter (Kodi Smit McPhee)
whose bearing, yes, reminds one of Timothee Chalamet. The
skinny, buttoned-up kid might come across as effeminate or non-binary at first,
but really is as powerful as anyone else and turns out to be capable of
anything (sort of the savoir personality in Dune). Good and evil become
intermingled.
The film is segmented into five roman-numeraled parts but the impression of the 128-minute epic
is two distinct parts.
In the first part, Rose is setting up a dinner to
enlarge the potential political fortunes of her new husband,
and plans to make an impression by playing the piano. She practices a folksy piece that I recall
from childhood but can't identify right now. As a prelude, George warns Phil
about Phil's BO in a curious exposition scene.
Phil teases Rose by playing the song before in a 'dueling banjo's'
fashion ('Deliverance') but doesn't come to the party until the end.
But Phil suddenly starts taking an interest in Peter,
probably stirred by his own latent but simmering homosexuality. He is careless enough to leave some muscle
magazines lying around, one with a caption 'weakness is a crime, so why are you
a criminal?', sounds like post WW1 mentality. He teaches Peter to ride, and
Peter is much better at it than anyone expects, shocking his mom, who sinks
into alcoholism, already prodded by Phil and afraid of her son's actually
becoming a grown man (her money has already sent him away to college and plans
medical school - and there is a curious scene where Peter plays with a rabbit
he has caught before killing it to dissect it for practice). Phil wants to make Peter a lasso, and there a
curious problem of a lack of rope or hemp (almost Hitchcock like). Peter is clever enough to find a sick animal
in the wild for raw material, and then use his own seductiveness to (in his own
mind) save his own mother's life. The
climax of the film will bring up the medical issues of anthrax (now post 9/11)
in a film made during the pandemic.
'Just Westerns' explains the ending (spoilers, embed
not available).
Name: 'The Power of the Dog'
Director, writer: Jane Campion (Thomas Savage, novel)
Released: 2021/11 (theatrical limited)
Format: 2.39:1
When and how viewed: Netflix subscription, 2021/12/4
Length: 126
Rating : R
Companies: BBC,
Netflix
Link: LA Times
Stars: *****
(Originally Posted: Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 1:30 PM EST)