people that do not involve them being brutalized in one way or another? What exactly will it take for Hollywood to finally put away this painful cliché and celebrate stories of L.G.B.T. But in fact, the film mostly reinforces the longstanding and problematic trope of the tortured homosexual, which only further identifies L.G.B.T. But no backstory is going to make that man right.Īnd why does it need to? What is gained by saying he’s a sadist, but only because he can’t come out of the closet? Campion’s defenders say she is brilliantly deconstructing the masculinity of the West. (The man beats a horse, for God’s sake.) Here at America, we write a lot about the eternal possibility of redemption and try to resist the easy impulse to demonize. George then basically leaves Rose to suffer Phil’s abuse she will end up a shut-in alcoholic because of him. Upon meeting Rose, George nearly weeps with gratitude at the possibility of having someone else in his life after years of being trapped with Phil. Phil Burbank is a man who taunts and hounds his brother and sister-in-law so relentlessly that they are afraid of him even when he’s not around. To say that it is inappropriate to have homosexual themes or allusions in a Western is like saying cop movies shouldn’t have car chases. Take another look at the source material, Sam. That probably depends on where exactly in the American West you hang your hat. Sam Elliott, an actor who has spent much of his career in Westerns, recently ranted on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast that having cowboys wandering around in chaps and shirtless is not true to life in the American West. (The film, adapted by the director Jane Campion, is based on a novel by Thomas Savage.) If only his character wasn’t bogged down by the need to humanize him by revealing halfway through that he is a deeply closeted gay man. It could all be straight out of Genesis, really, but with a co-writing credit given to Alfred Hitchcock.Ĭumberbatch is in a heated race for Best Actor, and it makes sense at its heart this is a story of people trying to survive the Scylla- and Charybdis-like vicissitudes of Phil’s twisted soul, and Cumberbatch delivers with a performance as frightening in its own way as Ralph Fiennes’ Amon Goeth in “Schindler’s List.” When the good man marries a widow (Dunst’s Rose), who has a college-age son, Pete (Kodi Smit-McPhee), conflict ensues.
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The film mostly reinforces a longstanding and problematic trope, one that identifies L.G.B.T. George (Jesse Plemons) is a good but lonely man Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a sadistic monster who is secretly afraid of life without his brother. Two brothers own a ranching business in 1920s Montana. There is something downright biblical about the subject matter, too. What a joy it was to see the underappreciated Kirsten Dunst given a meaty role. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine film-beautiful to watch, emotionally complex and well-cast. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out why “The Power of the Dog” is the Oscar darling that it is.