The Women Directors Hall of Fame

Yep this was absolutely horrific but it was really great. Sascha Alexander Gersak as Benno was unbelievable. Such a disarming presence at first, i could figure he was going to be the villain of this film right away but it was also completely believable that Tore wouldn't feel anything was off. His interest in him and offers to help felt genuine, like someone you'd want to hang around with particularly if you had no one outside your church like Tore. What really got to me was what lead him back to Benno was something that deeply disturbed him which shouldn't have, seeing his church buddy and a girl; it seriously messed him up like he was going to have a fit again, like that's the worst thing that could happen. You could feel something horrific coming from Benno which made his overreaction to seeing that seem all the worse. Not to mention him thinking Benno was a gift from god and obviously getting something in the early stages of their relationship that he was missing without a real family. Got to say the film did an amazing job of breaking us in, it took its time and increased the tempo bit by bit making it all the more effective when it got properly heavy. Letting us know Benno has an aggressive and macho streak with the bumper car scene and his demeaning his son following it, then the wooden pallet scene was such a tiny little forgettable thing that was kinda perfect; even if he didn't mean to drop that he still didn't apologize instead looking at it for a couple of seconds before walking away. For such a small thing it set things in motion perfectly.

The atmosphere in some of the scenes was crushing. Actually i'm not even sure if it was the atmosphere or just me expecting something to happen, either way some of the scenes while there was still an illusion of everything being fine were very tough to watch. Like the presents scene at the party; my lord that party scene if i watch this again i'll probably skip that before any of the actual violence. Everything about it; the girls treatment of Benno in front of everyone including this stranger Tore, Tore's weirded out reaction to how hands on Benno was with his daughter, and more than anything his daughter genuinely thanking Tore for the gift when she had to be prompted by her mother to thank him. I mean just his tone when he asks where Tore got it, such a well masked dark scene thinking that this aggressive macho dude Benno has been one upped by this skinny albino looking kid who literally calls himself a jesus freak. At first i thought the punch was overkill, feeling it should have came later as it was too early and it didn't make much sense that he stayed. I still think that and i think it could've worked better if the punch happened after his moment in the tent with Benno's daughter that night, it would have given him reason to stay and Benno reason to do it. The abruptness of it was definitely what made it work though. Thinking about it i think it worked alot during that moment because it brought up alot of questions. Mainly why did Benno's friends and especially his wife barely react to it, made it seem like there was something dark going on in this family and it wasn't just a sociopathic dude.

The only thing i'm not sure about is the faith theme. Maybe i was just preoccupied with everything else to notice but i didn't really see how it tied in with everything other than in superficial ways. Stuff like Benno's wife asking if he's afraid of hell then Benno throwing him a glare when Tore said no was too on the money for me, or Benno's "save her" about the cat after Tore discover the sexual abuse. Another was the second 'get jesus to fix the car' scene, as if Tore has finally been broken and he evil Benno had suceeded, guess that's just my atheism showing as this film was spiritual and kind of leaned towards Tore having a connection to god that was taken from him when he could no longer believe in good. I'm probably taking things too literally though. For the record i definitely think his faith being broken worked just not the car breakdown scene that seemed too on the nose and kinda supernatural to me. I think this being a test of faith and him believing in the good in people was taking to extremes at times, particularly when he kept acting in ways he had to know would anger Benno after his violent nature and quick temper had became apparent, unless Tore was just stupid. I hate saying something like that because it's similar to blaming a rape victim for the way they dress. Maybe that actually improves the portrayal as it shows the denial and the "things will improve" mindset abuse victims can fall under particularly when they have nothing else like Tore. If that's the case i think it was a misstep having Tore on guard at times then, or maybe that indicates it was more acceptance of the abuse which seems to be a common thing in certain victims. Either way i'm overthinking this haha, all that matter is it was horrible. I mean i don't even know what to say about what happens to him when he returns.

One thing i'm curious about is what people will think of the wife. Was she evil herself or was she scared of Benno and just doing what she thought he wanted? I guess it could be that she has been through his abuse herself and figures it would be better for it to be directed towards this stranger than her or her family. The rotten chicken scene which is one of the most vile things i've seen especially when he starts eating himself, is the big one for her and i'm not sure what to think. She is the one who suggests it and she feeds it to him, at times it kind of looks like she's smiling during it but that's when she looks at Benno when she looks away she looks like she is going to be sick. There's also her emptying the plate Tore is trying to eat the scraps off of when Benno first stops feeding him and her aformentioned non reaction to the first punch. As i said i'm not really sure what to think. Obviously what she is doing is horrific but i'm not sure if she has been conditioned into this and it's possibly some twisted attempt to protect her family at the expense of a stranger, if that's what it is i think that's a very interesting take. Either way she is so confusing. What she does to him after he was beating to the tv would suggest she is just evil herself, but from her words she sounds like she blames him for ruining her family now as if she has been manipulated by Benno, as if she is telling herself Benno is not a bad person since she is stuck in this situation and it was Tore who caused it. There's also stuff like her helping him after the chicken scene. I dunno, throw her friend in and i'm starting to think i missed something.

Anyway i don't want to keep going on i was trying to keep this short but different things kept coming to mind. This is also pretty scattered as i haven't been able to collect my thoughts properly and no way am i editing this haha. Not a pleasant film but extremely effective. One of the most harrowing depictions of abuse i've seen and it's not the violence, the violence is messed up but i've seen more graphically violent films than this that don't get under my skin this way. It was the little things i mentioned; the atmosphere, the writing, the buildups in general and more than anything the character of Benno. For the record i didn't think this was like Funny Games, the films i thought of most were The Girl Next Door and An American Crime and just the real life crime in general minus the religion. Excellent nom Cricket.