panillo
04-26-07, 05:52 PM
http://www.diarioadn.com/media/0000025500/0000025609.jpg
In examining the circumstances surrounding the 2005 death of a Seattle man who died of a perforated colon following sex with a stallion, Robinson Devor's "Zoo" doesn't merely avoid prurient guffaws. It goes the opposite route, throwing an almost solemn hush over the story, bathing it in something like poetry and mystery, with lush, atmospheric Pacific Northwest imagery and evocative music by Paul Matthew Moore.
Withholding moral judgement of the zoo-philes, as the clandestine community called itself, the filmmakers employed actors to dramatize the story and present the zoos in the most sympathetic possible light. Some think of themselves as victims, hurt at being ostracized and at the allegations of abuse of the animals they claim to love. There is no evidence of any horse being mistreated. One commentator dismisses the idea that the horse's consent wasn't sought, observing that if the horse wasn't willing, sex wouldn't have happened.
But if the film is a model of open-mindedness and even-handedness, it's an unsatisfyingly superficial and incomplete examination of deviant behavior. No one delves into the issues surrounding the use of animals to gratify human sexual appetites. If the zoophiles have rights, what about the animals? The self-serving self-seriousness of the zoos, advancing only their own position, such as it is, weakens "Zoo." We're not talking "The Horse Whisperer" or "Blazing Saddles" here.
Zoo Directed by Robinson Devor, screenplay by Devor, Charles Mudede. Starring John Paulsen, Richard Carmen, Russell Hodgkinson
Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usB0DdIFmXA
In examining the circumstances surrounding the 2005 death of a Seattle man who died of a perforated colon following sex with a stallion, Robinson Devor's "Zoo" doesn't merely avoid prurient guffaws. It goes the opposite route, throwing an almost solemn hush over the story, bathing it in something like poetry and mystery, with lush, atmospheric Pacific Northwest imagery and evocative music by Paul Matthew Moore.
Withholding moral judgement of the zoo-philes, as the clandestine community called itself, the filmmakers employed actors to dramatize the story and present the zoos in the most sympathetic possible light. Some think of themselves as victims, hurt at being ostracized and at the allegations of abuse of the animals they claim to love. There is no evidence of any horse being mistreated. One commentator dismisses the idea that the horse's consent wasn't sought, observing that if the horse wasn't willing, sex wouldn't have happened.
But if the film is a model of open-mindedness and even-handedness, it's an unsatisfyingly superficial and incomplete examination of deviant behavior. No one delves into the issues surrounding the use of animals to gratify human sexual appetites. If the zoophiles have rights, what about the animals? The self-serving self-seriousness of the zoos, advancing only their own position, such as it is, weakens "Zoo." We're not talking "The Horse Whisperer" or "Blazing Saddles" here.
Zoo Directed by Robinson Devor, screenplay by Devor, Charles Mudede. Starring John Paulsen, Richard Carmen, Russell Hodgkinson
Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usB0DdIFmXA