Tabula Rasa

I engaged in a rather bizarre double bill back in December – bizarre not only because of the astronomical difference in quality of the two films in question but also because I saw them on different days. Well, alright, it wasn’t a proper double bill but whatever. The point was that I watched two films in close succession and was surprised at how similar they were in terms of content but how poles apart they were in terms of quality. Okay, they weren’t actually that similar in content. Look – they were pretty much totally different if you want the truth. Leave me alone – it’s been a long day and I haven’t drunk nearly enough yet.

So the two films in question were Straw Dogs and The Strangers. The first is the controversial 1971 classic adapted for the screen and directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. The second is a low budget 2008 film starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman (”Underworld”) and written and directed by first-timer Bryan Bertino. The reason there’s even a vague similarity is because there’s a shared theme of people defending their home against invaders (but, you know, normal human invaders and not the type that come from Mars or who bury their tripods under the ground or shit like that). Let me do a quick summary review for those of you who need to go to the loo:

Straw Dogs: fucking fantastic.
The Strangers: pretty shit.

Alright, I admit – I maybe being a little harsh on The Strangers because there were some things I really liked about it. Well, two things I really liked about it. The first was the opening couple of scenes where we’re introduced to the characters played by Tyler and Speedman whose names I have no idea of because, quite honestly, I didn’t really give a shit about them. What I liked about the scenes, however, is that they played through with little to no dialogue whatsoever and yet, despite having no dialogue, we understood exactly what was going on between these two characters and could gauge the entire dynamic between them without a single word being said. It was a good piece of writing. It might have been a timing thing in that the day I saw this I had been having an email exchange with Mr Lyle D4D about the virtues of minimal dialogue.

The other thing I liked about it was a scene that I believe was often commented on and that was a wide shot that focused on Liv Tyler’s character but panned slightly to the side to reveal one of the invaders. It was a well directed and well set up shot. Apart from that, not a lot to comment on apart from the distracting over-reliance on a hand-held camera.

The thing about The Strangers though is that it’s the first film in a long time that I was so tempted to walk out of, I was that bored. It’s basically a one-note film that is designed to scare. But there’s a reason that white knuckle rides only last a couple of minutes and that’s because any longer than that and you start to get bored and sick and just want to get off. The Strangers suffers from rollercoaster syndrome: it’s a one-note film that features lots of (admittedly effective) make-you-jump moments but very little else. There’s little characterization, very obvious setups, no subplots, no themes, no imagery, no nothing.

Straw Dogs, on the other hand, is chocka full of subplots, character, themes as well as being replete with some absolutely fist-in-mouth moments where you understand exactly why it was banned for so many years. It’s a challenging film and I know that there are a couple of people who may be reading this who would baulk at watching it because of some of the content matter and I can’t say that I blame them. (For those who aren’t keeping up with the plot, there’s quite a brutal rape scene which, while I think the story pretty much demanded it*, is pretty difficult to watch)

The most compelling thing about Straw Dogs, however, is the moral quandary that the mathematician protagonist, David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) faces in the final act. It’s the culmination of a huge amount of conflict he’s been facing throughout the film – conflict with the villagers, conflict with the navvies working on his house, conflict with his wife – leading to the point where he finally makes a stand to defend something which in itself is, arguably, morally indefensible. This conflict draws you in – it makes you wonder how you’d react in the same situation. Where The Strangers devolved the primary motivation of it’s protagonists to a simple matter of survival, Straw Dogs asks so much more not only of its characters but also of the viewer by directly challenging our moral principles.

Did anyone else see The Strangers? What were your thoughts? Have you seen Straw Dogs too? Would you compare them and if so how?

*This is a subject worthy of debate but to be perfectly honest, not one I’m going to start.

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Dustin Hoffman, Films, Sam Peckinpah, Straw Dogs, Subplots, The Strangers, Themes