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37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Depraved Low Budget Shocker, November 23, 2003
The Criterion Collection brings film lovers some of the most engaging, challenging pictures ever made. National borders mean little to the folks at this DVD company; they will release American films as readily as they will European cinema or documentaries about African dictators. Moreover, Criterion does not flinch from controversial films because they contain controversial themes. Thanks to this company, we can readily obtain excellent versions of Paul Morrissey's "Flesh for Frankenstein" and "Blood for Dracula" along with the ultra violent "Robocop." I have yet to fully explore the depths of Criterion's film catalog, but their other discs must surely be as interesting as the titles I have viewed so far. Criterion finally released one of my favorite foreign films, the independent little gem entitled "C'est Arrive Pres de Chez Vous," oddly translated as "Man Bites Dog." Made in Belgium a little over a decade ago, this fascinating movie viciously satirizes the media and its love for dramatic violence. Criterion not only presents this movie with a heap of extras, they also restored the film to its uncut form. This is important because the version I watched nearly ten years ago was missing two scenes that are arguably the most shocking parts in the entire film. Filmed entirely in the style of a black and white documentary, "Man Bites Dog" is an often outrageous excursion into the underground world of a sadistic thug named Benoit, a travelogue of the daily activities and random thoughts of a bloodthirsty sociopath. Most of the time he robs the elderly of their pensions, commits burglaries, drinks himself silly, or kills innocent people for no other reason than that he feels like it. In several scenes we see Ben instructing the film crew on how to weigh down bodies so they will not float when he dumps the corpses into an abandoned rock quarry. His associates are mostly a rather seedy lot: he often visits an aging woman of questionable virtue and hangs out with an obnoxious boxer. Good old Benny is not above suddenly killing a pal in a fit of rage, or giving an old woman a fatal heart attack by screaming at the top of his lungs into her face. This guy is a piece of work, but what truly makes the film painful to watch is how Benoit gradually lures the filmmakers into sharing his gruesome crimes. In a way, and this is the real genius of "Man Bites Dog," the viewer can sometimes understand why the documentarians become involved in Benoit's shenanigans. Even as he commits the most despicable of crimes, this hooligan is truly a charming character with many endearing traits. He often waxes philosophic about such disparate topics as architecture and poetry, has a lady friend who takes him to art galleries, and his generosity to the filmmakers chronicling his life knows no bounds. Benny is always willing to buy a drink or pitch in to help pay for more film because he enjoys the company of his newfound buddies. Watching this guy play with children in the street even though he committed an atrocious crime against a youth in another scene presents the documentarians, and by extension the viewer, with a moral quandary not easily resolved. Benoit does not represent what Hannah Arendt referred to as the "banality of evil" but rather an "ambiguity of evil," and it makes pigeonholing this character at times extremely problematic. To make it even more difficult for the viewer to hate Benoit, his likeable mother and grandfather appear from time to time. But abhor him you will, especially after seeing the aftermath of a robbery in the suburbs and an encounter with a couple in an apartment after an all-night drunk. "Man Bites Dog" is a challenging film. Even worse, this movie is often quite funny in the way only the blackest of comedies can achieve. Benoit's overdramatic French dialogue is a scream, and many of his views on life are just downright hysterical. You cannot help but laugh when Benoit forces the camera crew to rebury bodies that have suddenly reappeared when the quarry goes dry. I think one of the funniest scenes in the movie occurs when a member of the documentary crew dies as a result of Benoit's activities and we see a member of the crew eulogize him on camera. When another filmmaker dies later in the film, this same guy performs another eulogy nearly indistinguishable from the first one. I have never felt as guilty about laughing during a film as I have with this one because I knew I just should not, could not, dared not find this amusing, but in the end I just could not help myself from giggling over Ben's antics. The extras on the Criterion disc are not all that impressive. There is a film short starring the actor who played Benoit that is not that good, an interview with the filmmakers that is rather short and does not reveal much about the film, a still gallery, and some reviews concerning the movie. The transfer quality of the picture is excellent, though, as are the subtitles for this French language film. As far as I know, we have never seen anything further from the people responsible for "Man Bites Dog." Perhaps these guys were one hit wonders, and if so that is a darn shame. This movie is so brilliantly conceived and executed that it is difficult to imagine that whoever made it would slide into obscurity.
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DVD ~ Philippe Nahon
DVD ~ Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu
DVD ~ Peter Greene
DVD ~ Florian Koerner von Gustorf
DVD ~ Maria Mathiesen
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