Straw Dogs is supposed to be about a sane, intelligent person who feels himself above violence. Hell, he doesn't even know what violence is, at least when it comes to dealing with something relating to everyday life. Yet, he's currently living in a village where violence rules. Hunting is the way you tell if a man is truly a man. You kill pets if it helps you get your point across to someone. If you are a true man, and you want a woman, you just take her, no matter what her inclination is. Sure, maybe you had her before and her husband doesn't get "it", but
you can still claim first dibs apparently.
The final third of
Straw Dogs is imcomparable to me as far as an all-out assault of violence, not only on one's person but how it affects ones marriage and life in general. Between all the shotguns, the boiling oil, the bear trap, the aural assault of the bagpipes, the broken glass, the twisted wire, I would find it impossible to ever return to anything remotely resembling a normal life. In the flick, Dustin Hoffman's character tries to return to normalcy even though he's protecting a mentally-disturbed murderer and basically loses the wife he's also trying to protect. The film is a textbook on how to edit acting, action, dialogue, character, music and most obviously, sound, together to take the viewer into new realms of film, even if they are approaching 40 years ago. I respect others' rights to "intelligently" disagree with me about what
Straw Dogs means and whether they can accept it as a visionary movie or not. The thing I will never accept is when people claim that the film is somehow passed its prime. If this film's violence isn't shocking, I really need to hear what films you believe are "untame" because it makes no sense. HA!
Of course, some people see
Straw Dogs as actually buying into the caveman mentality and see Dustin Hoffman's character reflexively doing that. WRONG!
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