Let me start this off by saying I had no expectations walking into the screening of Dogtooth.  In fact, I didn’t even fully believe I was going to get into this film because I was caught up watching Citizen Cope finish his set at the Austin Convention Center

Unfortunately not the best view, but in all fairness I did show up at the very end of the show while he was playing “Sideways”.  I am definitely planning to see him perform again when he comes back to Dallas.

Anyways, I digress.. The point of this post is to discuss the file Dogtooth and that is what I am going to do.  If you are conservative or planning on seeing this film and don’t want it to be spoiled for you, DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT!

This film was one of the biggest mind trips I have ever seen. The previews were equally as crazy as the film. The Alamo prides itself on finding old school obscure clips to entertain the audience before a film.  Here are a couple of pictures from one of the absurd animated clips that lead to the feature film:

And now for our FEATURE FILM…

Dogtooth is a foreign film directed by Yorgos Lathimos completely  in Greek (not fully sure on the language) with English subtitles.  The premise is that a man had completely mind warped his wife into raising their three children (all about in their 20’s as the film is set up) leading them to believe that life outside their remote well-fenced-in estate was terrifying and something that would kill them if they tried to leave home.  They were taught that many common words had different meanings (example: sea = a chair), ultimately to keep them from thinking of places and things outside of their prison of a home. The father teaches his children that they can not ever leave home until one of their K-9 teeth falls out… hence the name of the film: “Dogtooth”.  Now we are talking about adults here, nobody’s K-9 falls out without a solid punch to the face or horrible dental hygiene.

This film features extremely explicit sexual content that I am not going to go to much into beyond what is important to the plot.. but ultimately the father pays a woman to come to the house (blindfolded so she can’t find her way back on her own) to have sex with their son.  The film hints to the fact that the three children had another brother who had somehow escaped this horrible prison, even though he was raised the same as these other three siblings.  My guess is the father brings his son a paid sexual partner every 2 weeks to try to keep him from leaving like his elder son who we never meet.

Bringing in this outside woman presents challenges for the parents with regards to keeping their children sheltered from the outside world.  She introduces some outside influences that shape how the kids view their world.  What blows my mind most about this film is my desire to laugh out loud at some of the “cute” ignorant things that these mentally warped young adults do throughout the film.  Somehow the director enables you to lose yourself into this completely degenerate situation to the point where you feel like you are watching innocent little kids play on a playground, growing and developing into young adults.  These “children” were not kids, they should have had fully developed minds and lives.  However, because of their upbringing, they continually look to their father and mother for direction.  The direction they received was deceptive and fully robbed them of a life that we all have been given and deserve. A life of knowing a few simple truths about the world around us that we take for granted.

I am not going to completely spoil the ending but like many other Indie films, Dogtooth ends abruptly and unexpectedly.  I think it ends in an appropriate place and allows for your mind to wander about how this family could possibly end up.  If you have a strong stomach and are a big movie buff, this is a great film to see.  My understanding is that it won a significant award at the Cannes Film Festival in May, 2009.  This film will check your outlook on the world around you and the way you process information you get from any source.. especially your parents!