Straw Dogs

Dustin Hoffman gives a great performance in Peckinpah's infamous masterpiece

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Banned for a long time since its release, Straw Dogs has fairly recently been let loose on the public, most of whom must have wondered what all the fuss was about.

Straw Dogs tells the tale of David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) and his English wife Amy (Susan George) as they move to a cornish village seeking the quiet life. Typically to cornish villages, they are really a seething mass of hatred and violence and its not long before Sumner's manhood is tested in a battle with the vicious locals.

Viewed today, Straw Dogs depiction of village life seems fairly antiquated and the early scenes give off the atmosphere of a Children's Film Foundation feature from the early 1980s. The slow pace is soon revealed to be deliberate as the quaint surroundings take on a more malevolent appearance.

But why was it banned? Along with the violence which comes in short, sharp bursts towards the end, the real problem with the film was the rape scene which many critics felt was hugely misogynistic.

Certainly, Peckinpah has never been known for his sensitivity when it comes to the fairer sex, but one can't help but feel he was hard done by on this count. The objectionable moment comes when Susan George switches from struggling to actually appearing to enjoy the rape. Fair enough, on the face of it that appears to be a pretty misguided attempt at exposing female sexuality by Sam Peckinpah.

If, however, we pay attention to the storyline, it becomes clear that George is seriously dissatisfied with her husband's lack of affection and outright manliness. The clincher comes when we realise that Amy has already had an affair with her attacker, could she have realised this may be her way to exact a form of extreme revenge on her husband? This would seem to be the best explanation and as extreme as it may be, Pecknpah has never been one to shy away from the darker areas of the human psyche.

But it's the character of David Sumner on which the rest of the movie focuses and credit must be given to Dustin Hoffman for his superb performance. His character is all bottled up anger, struggling to maintain his, calm civilized exterior.

As we watch him battle his personal demons, we find ourselves wishing him to exact terrible vengeance on his attackers and it's here we realise Peckinpah's final point. We are all capable of violence and there is no better study of masculinity and the nature of violence than Straw Dogs.