The Power of the Dog 

"When my father passed I wanted nothing more than my mother’s happiness. For what kind of man would I be if I did not help my mother. If I did not save her." 

I’ll admit that I’m not a fan of westerns, but I’m a fan of Jane Campion’s movies, especially Bright Star. So I had to watch it as soon as it made its appearance on Netflix. It’s not a movie for everybody, it’s slow-paced and none of the characters are relatable, but if you bear until the end you’ll be rewarded for your patience

At the beginning I was fooled into thinking it was a romantic western, where Benedict Cumberbatch’s character, Phil, will fall in love with Rose (Kirsten Dunst). How wrong I was, especially since I wasn't aware of the novel's plot it was based on. But by half of the movie Phil’s behavior starts to reveal his true nature: he wants to appear as a tough cowboy, who strikes fear into others, but underneath this facade he hides a secret. Peter is the only one who detects his little secret and cunningly uses it to his advantage. Though it is not revealed until the end what Peter’s true intentions were. For me it was a surprise initially, but then I put all the pieces together and it all made sense.

The movie throws subtle hints about the characters’ intentions,but never gives away too much of the plot. 

I like how Jane Campion’s movies don't have a lot of dialogues, but through her shots she’s able to capture the feelings of her characters. My applause also goes to Jonny Greenwood’s score, it knows how to build tension and suspense (besides of being the guitarist of Radiohead he’s also an excellent score composer). Of course Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst are brilliant in their roles, but for me the scene stealer was Kodi Smit-McPhee. His character, Peter, appears as a timid boy, mocked by the other cowboys for his effeminate behavior, but by the end of the movie he becomes more and more confident and inverts the roles with Phil. Now he is the one in charge of the power, he knows exactly what he is doing. It’s about him that the title of the movie hints. All this time we thought of him as weak and helpless, like his mother does, but he is a mastermind or a  psychopath (dissecting a rabbit evoked Psycho's Norman Bates).

I’m a sucker for movies with  a twist, so I cannot deny I’m biased on this one. But apart from the twist “The power of the dog” is a must-see for the amazing setting (it should be set  in Montana, but was it was filmed in New Zealand), the terrific performances of the whole cast (though a small  role, it was nice to see the rising star Kiwi native Thomasin McKenzie) and of course the masterful direction of Jane Campion who knows how to frame the human behavior through her shots. The whole movie is an analysis of human behavior.