The Power of the Dog

Jane Campion's psychological drama revolves around a cowhand named Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) who initially comes off as a brute, mean, uncultured roughneck. He's extremely disdainful and resentful towards everyone and everything. Now, it takes a whole lot of guts to introduce your protagonist this way to the audience and expect them to empathize. And strangely, we do. This could be due to the actor playing him, but we do wonder where is all this hatred in him coming from and we are committed to go through this journey to find out. As sure it is, we discover Phil has lost someone truly important to him whom he calls Bronco Henry; a mentor but most importantly, his lover.

Phil has a brother named George (Jesse Plemons) who is his stark contrast. He is soft spoken, well-mannered, well dressed and it takes a heavy effort to convince us that these two are siblings. In fact, Phil doesn't seem to like his brother very much too, just like everything else in sight. The real meat of the story begins when George marries a widow in town. You could clearly see how this impacts Phil's state of mind, knowing his brother has a partner and he himself doesn't. The continuous, back-and-forth rift between George's wife Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and Phil is by far the best thing the film has to offer. Banjo and piano battle, wash-up request for a dinner and the string of mental torture that follows which eventually pushes Rose towards depression and alcohol are highlights.

But, things change when Phil acquaints Rose's son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). What begins as animosity flourishes into a mentor-mentee friendship, akin to the one Phil experienced with Bronco Henry. There are hints, but we could safely believe that Phil has found his new flame. But Peter's ulterior motive behind this relationship is revealed towards the end of the picture, which involves his past of dealing with an alcoholic father who tortured his mother. Phil's thoroughness in dealing with infected cows that transmits anthrax costs him an ironic death. This resolution, the mental torture sequences between Phil and Rose and the strong performances by the entire cast make up for what is otherwise a rather dull and uneventful motion picture show for the most parts.