Review of Alpha Dog (2006) by Jim H — 05 Apr 2011

A drug dealer kidnaps the brother of a high-strung gangster who owes money.

Not long ago I had a conversation with a colleague and friend about The Silence of the Lambs. He asked his students to discuss ways in which Jonathan Demme's film upheld and conformed to traditional gender conventions.

I said, "Conformed? The Silence of the Lambs is one of the most feminist movies ever made. I don't see how it conforms to gender stereotypes.".

"What about the final scene?" he replied. "It's the man watching the helpless woman. She's subject to The Gaze. It's torn right out of a basic female exploitation film.".

"But she shoots him.".

"You can make a movie, and ninety minutes could be men exploiting naked women. But even if they shoot the men at the end, it doesn't change the fact that it's an exploitation film.".

Even though I still disagree with my friend about The Silence of the Lambs, I describe this conversation because I think it's an applicable concept as I think about Alpha Dog. Here, we get to delight in the drug culture for about ninety minutes. The kidnapped victim thoroughly enjoys being kidnapped, experiencing his first sexual experience with no less than Amanda Seyfried, getting stoned, and playing video games with his captors. Likewise, the kidnappers have expensive cars, wonderful digs, plenty of illegal substances, and a sycophant who is willing to do all the dirty work. I know that this film intends on being a cautionary tale. All the illegal fun adds up to a truly horrible crime, some jail time, and as the opening credit sequence implies, the loss of innocence. But I contend that Alpha Dog amounts to a celebration of these characters, and even though they meet unfortunate ends doesn't make it any less a celebration; it's like a ninety-minute display of naked women, and just because they revolt in the end doesn't make it any less an exploitation film.

I think a more ethical display of drug-addled children behaving badly is Larry Clark's Bully. In Clark's film there is very little to find glorious; everything is ugly.

Overall, Alpha Dog is a highly problematic film, and it makes me re-think my appreciation of other films in this genre.