Man Bites Dog

Man Bites Dog (C'est Arrive Pres de Chez Vous) (1992)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Remy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel, Benoit Poelvoorde

Starring: Benoit Poelvoorde, Remy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel, Valerie Parent

From: Les Artistes Anonymes

On my continuing journey of watching foreign films in June, I go to Belgium and see this for a second time; the first time was approximately 10 years ago, when I rented it from the super-liberal The Movie Fan videostore when I went to school at Illinois State University. I did not remember much about it so I figured it'd be the perfect thing to view tonight.

The plot of this infamous mockumentary is that a documentary film crew follow around Benoit, a guy who happens to be a serial killer, and the camera has an effect on him; it causes him to up his killing spree and eventually the film crew get in on the action and turn into entitites that are just as terrible as the boorish loudmouth who thinks himself smarter than he actually is and who is a racist xenophobe who also is misogynistic... and he can't hold his liquor either. Yet, he's still a charming figure at times.

The shock of this isn't quite the same in 2013 as it was in '92 (what with the scourge of “reality” TV being popular now, not to mention found footage/mockumentary films are now not too hard to find) but still, despite some too ridiculous moments, this still is entertaining for what it is, which is a really dark look at several different topics. They include:

• The influence of the camera on documentaries. It's a natural for this to happen. As much as someone tries to be themselves when they're on camera-such as for a documentary-a person will always end up acting differently. But as much as Benoit changes when he's around the film crew, the film crew also end up acting differently as they spend more time with Benoit; that crew ends up doing some horrifying things
• The public's fascination with such things as violence and serial killers. Enough said.
• The media's love of such things as violence and serial killers. Look at all the coverage that such things as high-profile murder trials get; people seem to love it (even though I think it's sick to enjoy such things as the coverage of the Casey Anthony trial), so that's why it's done.

It is not the easiest movie to watch given the subject matter. Still, I thought it was enjoyable for what it is and even now it says a lot and now, after the fact there's commentary that can be applied to “reality” TV.

I'll be back Tuesday night.