As a remake of the 1971 Pekinpah classic, Rod Lurie’s Straw Dogs serves to expose layers of polarity deeply rooted within modern American culture.
Newlyweds David Sumner (James Marsden) and Amy (the beautiful Kate Bosworth) head back from L.A. to Amy’s childhood home in Blackwater, Mississippi, where Amy’s muscled ex-football-star boyfriend, Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard) and his clan of illiterate goons stir up trouble for their marriage. Straw Dogs plays around with some seriously rehashed American stereotypes – with everything from a blonde Hollywood belle, burnt out football heroes and bar brawls to the town man-child.
David is a liberal minded, jaguar driving, ivy-league writer – a direct clash with the bible-thumping, deer hunting, beer-sloshing bar frequenters that have watched Amy’s ascent to stardom on television. As David tries in vain to appease his wife and politely conform to some of the town’s idiosyncrasies, the security of his marriage (and their lives) is challenged to a violent breaking point.
The film is chock full of America, and it’s delightfully farcical. Lurie does a great job of bringing tension to the forefront with an excellent soundtrack – and throughout the film he uses harsh sounds with wrenching images to break into the seemingly pastoral calm.
The clash between David and Charlie is comical, particularly as David’s taste in classical music and preppy attire is contrasted against the gun-toting, Lynyrd Skynrd blasting southern ruffians. The shots are clean and colorful.
Lurie treats Amy’s character with particular ferocity – and handles the rape scene, which is highly controversial in the original for it’s eroticism, in a way that depicts women as strong rather than submissive and meek. The real conflict bubbles as gender roles come into play – the meaty southern men challenge David’s masculinity and his wife seems to have more gusto than he can muster, at first.
The stereotypes in the film are executed so obviously it’s a bit heavy handed – and the outcome of the violent climax is hardly surprising. Still, I was on the edge of my seat, and I am terrified by how I joined in with the audience in cheering David on through his increasingly disturbing takedown of the invaders. The characters are so irksome at times the audience would squirm or even yell at the screen – which certainly makes for a good time.
The film truly attempts to key into the current political polarity and class wars in America – but it does so with very cut and dry, cartoonish hyperbole. The new Straw Dogs still begs us to ask what kind of animalistic behavior we are capable of at our core, and succeeds as a psychological critique on manliness in our society.
As a study in relationships – it uncovers that we have some problems with the association between masculinity and violence. Straw Dogs was a decent film, and there’s nothing quite like leaving a theatre in a daze with a crowd of buzzing people, charged up on blood-excitement. Bring a date so you have someone’s hand to clasp when things get gory.
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