Review of Benny's Video (1992) by Stuart K — 23 Apr 2012

Written and directed by Austrian director Michael Haneke, who makes social commentaries of troubled, damaged people like in Funny Games (1997) and The Piano Teacher (2001). This is a very lurid, voyeuristic drama which is an indictment of how much violent films and television can rub off on people, with tragic consequences for everyone.

Vienna, and teenager Benny (Arno Frisch) has his own camera and editing facilities in his bedroom, he lives with his mother Anna (Angela Winkler) and father Georg (Ulrich MÃ 1/4he). He does well in school, performing in a choir, and he rents out violent films from his local video store.

While Benny's parents are away for one weekend, he meets a girl called Mädchen (Ingrid Stassner) outside the video store, and Benny invites Mädchen back to the apartment where he lives, and after showing her a violent video of a pig being killed with a stun gun, Benny ends up killing Mädchen after a dare with the stun gun that killed the pig.

Benny goes about his life as normal, until his parents get back and find out what he's done and how they get involved in trying to prevent Benny from getting done. It's a slow-burning but affecting drama, it's well made seeing as most of it is seen through Benny's camera and videos which rewind and are replayed in agonising slo-mo.

It came out around the time in the 1990's when videos were being blamed for kids copying imitable behaviour from violent films, Haneke had his finger on the pulse of the media at that time.