The camera as accomplice
Man Bites Dog
Directed by Remy Belvaux
Written by Remy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel, Benoit Poelvoorde and Vincent Tavier
Starring Benoit Poelvoorde
Now showing at the Mandolin Cinema, Sydney
Reviewed by Gabrielle Carey
Man Bites Dog is fiction posing as documentary. Unlike other mock documentaries, such as This is Spinal Tap or the recently released Bob Roberts, its humour is very very black. The film explores the medium of documentary as much as its subject, and its subject is a serial killer. Man Bites Dog asks us why we are drawn to stories like Silence of the Lambs and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.
Director, camera operator and sound technician follow the notorious serial killer, Benoit, through the workings of his everyday life. They witness and record his killings, celebrate in pubs and restaurants and even dispose of bodies.
Benoit is an extraordinary character with idiosyncratic methods and theories on all aspects of what he calls his "trade". He represents a bizarre combination of music, poetry, philosophy, bigotry and extreme violence.
Sylvania Waters and Black Harvest raised questions about the extent to which a documentary film crew incite and create drama by their presence. Man Bites Dog takes the idea one step further, as the film crew become first accessories to and then participants in Benoit's crimes.
Like most docos, and even mock docos, it is incredibly seductive as a medium, forcing you to believe that what you see is "truth". It makes clever use of pseudo-authentic motifs such as jerky camera movements, direct speech to the camera and loss of sound. The question, "Is this real or not?" is further confused by the characters' use of their own names; the director of the "documentary", Remy Belvaux, is also the director of Man Bites Dog.
The film is interesting and provoking, witty, clever and bitingly accurate in its sickening humour. Watch what happens when Benoit bumps into a rival serial killer who is also having his "escapades" filmed.