Firstly, for anyone who doesn't know what Dogtooth (Κυνόδοντας) is, it is a greek film which was awarded with the Un certain regard award at the Cannes Festival in 2010 and it even got nominated for an Oscar® award for a best foreign film (but it lost to the Danish In a better world). It is about a strange family which leaves locked in a house and only the father can get out and go to work. The three kids (two girls and a boy), who aren't kids anymore as they are supposedly in their late teens, are homeschooled by their parents who teach them some strange things. They learn the wrong meaning of the words (ex. sea is the armchair in the leaving room and zombies are the small yellow flowers), they play curious games like who will keep the longest their finger under hot water and they believe that cats are vicious man-eating creatures of which they are protected if they stay in the house. Finally they can leave their home and go to the outer world only if they lose their bicuspid (their dogtooth as it's called in greek).
I have heard a lot of opinions on this film. Some have called it a masterpiece, others said that it made them sick, some laughed (which proves the immature way with which they saw the film, because not once -even in the most ridiculous scenes- I wasn't able to smile) others have called it a weird nightmare and some others liked it a lot. I am one of those last people. I really and honestly liked this film and if I had seen it before making my top 10 of the year, it could be in it. This is because of many reasons.
First of all, I can't call it "sick" because I've seen films that are a lot more sick than this. I can't see why films like Saw aren't considered sick, for example. Secondly, I really like films which make me think about them a long time after I've seen them. The whole time I was watching this film I was thinking about the allegories and the metaphors that Giorgos Lanthimos (the director) was trying to make. Thirdly, I honestly liked the performances. Let's face it, there were some really demanding things that the actors were asked to do, and the seriousness with which they did them, helped me get into the story.
For me, this film has many layers. It is about the wrong way that homeschooling can go. It speaks about how curious teenagers can get. Even if you give them everything, they will always want more. It is also about how you can control people by not allowing them to see the world, and thus, being completely responsible about their mental abilities. In a completely different layer, it even speaks about how countries can control their citizens from the world, misinform them and make them victims of whichever belief.
If you look past the nudity and the sex scenes and watch it with an open mind, you may see all this, even if you like it or not. After all, not everyone is obliged to like every film. What makes me curious, though, is the question why when so many people around the world liked this film (and they even placed it in their top tens) and when it even got a 90% in the Rotten Tomatoes most of the greeks didn't care to give it a second thought. It's a pity when it's one of the few really different and brave films that came out of Greece in the past years.
In the end, even if you liked it or not, you can't help but accept that it is one of those films that haunts you for a long time after you first saw them. And that isn't just because of the controversial ending.
In the end, even if you liked it or not, you can't help but accept that it is one of those films that haunts you for a long time after you first saw them. And that isn't just because of the controversial ending.
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