Review of Man Bites Dog (1992) by Booby H — 16 Jun 2010

Intriguing and useful documentaries at times tackle ordinary topics, but in the process show the will, determination, hope, love, and basically the good and bad of the subjects it has chosen to utilize. On the opposite side are mockumenataries who satarize the hell out of the issues that documentaries attempt to discuss and debate seriously and intellectually; Mockumentaries such as Spinal Tap take pleasure in diligently mocking their subjects. Sometimes the effects can be as offbeat as Bruno or as idiosyncratic as Waiting for Guffman. Man Bites Dog, however, treads ground that no documentary has tread before; actually it covers ground that rarely even films attempt to discuss seriously.

Man Bites Dog is a fictional documentary following a serial killer, documenting his daily exploits. The serial killer, Benoit, is followed by a film crew whose sole responsibility-initially-is to document his interactions with his family members, victims, and his general ideology on society. As it may be assumed, these filmmakers do not have the most noble taste in choosing their subjects, but they also lack the funding to complete the project as they wish. Benoit promises them that he will help them found their project, and with his seemingly innocent promise, the participation of the film crew in the crimes begin; who is some instances actually aid him in dispatching the bodies or even participating actively in the crime.

Benoit is no ordinary serial killer. His philosophy is different from usual portrayals because his ideologies on suburban life and media as conspiracy-like as it may seem, rings true. In addition, he does not kill simply to fulfill some nagging carnal desire, but he kills because the source of his income were his victims possessions. Even his girlfriend shares in the delusion, that as unusual as his work maybe, everyone has got to live somehow-besides the victims, of course. His family, from his mother to his grandparents, are pleasant folks, and it is in their presence that the best of Benoit's empathy and love is displayed. They are not knowledgeable of his work; however, they do indirectly condemn his work as it appears in the newspaper-not knowing that it is their son who is the culprit of many crimes occurring in the city.

The Crimes, themselves, are merciless, gory, uncensored, and most of all excessive. The audience witnesses dozens and dozens of corpses, murders, and even an account of rape throughout the film. The killing itself is genuinely interesting, at times consisting of original ideas in the murder of the elderly, but the processes of disposing of the corpses is unrealistic and not believable. There are scenes where Benoit is hauling a body in the vicinity of a moving train, or using the most unprofessional methods, to a serial killer, of getting rid of his victims. If the police even were remotely active in such a city, they were bound to identify Benoit with every murder he commits. After a while, we wonder how is that after so many gunshots, suffocations, and basically instances of crime on a relatively stable community, the Police have no suspect and no lead. Benoit does explains that the reason, but his answer is not accepted sufficient enough to excuse his entire output. If it is accepted that the camera crew follow Benoit for less than half a year, considering his age, it can be speculated that Benoit has killed the equivalent of entire villages of people without a lead pointing towards him.

Man Bites Dog intent is to satirize the sorry state of contemporary media's scrutiny of controversial people and issues. It implies how the media simply sees the people it documents as subjects rather than individuals who may need or desire help and guidance. The Film crew follows Benoit without really comprehending what horrific incidents they are filming, and even lending a hand in the crimes. In other words, in the process of documenting such certain events, the media can become as cruel as the perpetrator of an incident, or rather become him. In a truly bizarre case, Benoit murders a person who also has a film crew with him, demonstrating one of the funniest and most poignant moments of the film. A question, however, that must be asked is if Man Bites Dog is a critique of certain aspects of society, or if it is a vehicle for exploiting mutilated corpses, long rape scenes and other mentioned unpleasant aspects of Benoit's "craft." The answer is that it is a very wise critique in its own respect, but as the running time progresses the film slowly shifts towards exploitation. As this happens, the gravity of Benoit's work becomes less tragic, as corpse after corpse is displayed to us. In the end, all the unpleasant sights are simply excessive, losing their shocking and tragic elements.

Man Bites Dog as great a satire as it may be, overstays its welcome by reducing Benoit from a killer with an agenda to a deranged serial killer. The film is among those works that should have retained a shorter length because the longer it gets, the more focus it loses, and the more its timely criticisms seem to strain on. The graphic nature of Man Bites Dog should not be taken lightly, as it demonstrates the murders with vivid detail, and incorporates cruel and disturbing methods in some instances. The film also caves in when one considers certain unanswered questions, such as: why are these fictional filmmakers, who lack financial stability, following such a subject around for their documentary? Documenting a serial killer's exploits does not carry ideal commercial weight as to grant these filmmakers fame or riches. The fictional filmmakers seem pleasant people who truly wish to demonstrate something great with this work, but considering the subject matter and the detail which they film the issue in hand, it seems they are in delusion concerning what this film really and truly demonstrates. Even Benoit doesn't dwell on why they would want to film him, even if there was a valid reason, wouldn't the release of the film endanger his work? Man Bites Dog may be as violent as the society it satirizes, but to leave its desired effect it does need to attain such a level of violence; without it, our disgust and pity of our own society would not be as drastic as it should be.