A man stands in the aisle of a train. Looking out the window, he finally gives way to a young woman who wants to pass him – before finally attacking and strangling her from behind. With this wordless opening scene, “Mann bites Dog” shocked audiences at its world premiere at Cannes in 1992 and still makes it clear within moments that this is a film that meets its audience with a large portion of unpredictability and puts it to the test time and time again .
But what starts with a punch in the stomach is quickly digested. At the latest when the killer immediately afterwards, when disposing of the corpse, describes why he usually has to weight the dead by three times their weight in order for them to sink – while the ratio for children and especially “midgets” must be calculated differently (they have after all, heavier bones!) – the film reveals its true colors – as bitter media satire under the guise of a serial killer thriller, which breaks not only taboos, but also the nerves of many viewers.
You can currently “man bites dog” in the channel Arthaus+ on Amazon Prime Video*which you can test, stream for free – and not only the author of this article can give an unconditional recommendation, but also a cult director Quentin Tarantino, whose love of the shocker is well known and who once even helped the film to extra headlines when he caused a scuffle at the Cannes premiere – and was therefore not even allowed into the theater when he wanted to see the film a second time.
But even without the help of Tarantino, who shortly afterwards brought a similar story to the cinema with “Natural Born Killers” (to which he gave the story), not entirely coincidentally, Remy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde scored with their controversial student film Waves : “Man Bites Dog” won the Audience Award at Cannes, was awarded the extremely rare, highest age rating NC-17 in the US, and was even banned in countries such as Sweden and Ireland – but this only drew more attention to the black and white film, which over time has become an absolute cult classic.
“Man bites dog”: we are all voyeurists…
If you look at the status of reality TV today, it sheds a whole new light on the Belgian cult film, in which documentary makers follow a serial killer in his daily life. The emotional and emotional manipulation through television was relatively in its infancy in the early 90s, whereas today we are practically drilled into it with a crowbar about how we should feel and when. Or as in the case of “Man bites the dog” with the rope, revolver or other murder instruments. But at what price?
Inquisitiveness and voyeurism are the cornerstones of the fascination people share with the lives of others. Countless TV formats that shape today’s television landscape are based precisely on that tendency to observe others while always remaining anonymous. At a time when there seems to be only one extreme or the other in many areas of life, the once great middle is in danger of disappearing completely. It takes more and more to surprise, shock or at least amuse people.
Shows like “Wanted Daughter-in-Law” invite you to get angry, have fun, or sympathize with the protagonists – at least until the next commercial break, when you can finally breathe a sigh of relief because you’re doing better yourself. That suffering is not only illustrated in a dubious way, but also staged from the ground up (as Jan Böhmermann a few years ago revealed in NEO MAGAZIN ROYALE), is even more terrifying and shocking than “Man Bites Dog” could ever be. After all, this is not about an exaggerated re-enactment of life that casts a skeptical look at a possible future, but about life itself – in the here and now.
… until we become accomplices
Where cinema classics such as “The Window to the Yard” or “Eyes of Fear – Peeping Tom” still used voyeurism as a driving force for classic suspense cinema, “Mann bites Dog” goes one step further: Because In the documentary film, not only fiction and reality intertwine, but also increasingly the role of perpetrator and victim.
The masterful balancing act here is that the murderer played by Benoît Poelvoorde is on the one hand staged as a perfidious, brutal brute capable of the most horrible things – be it rape or infanticide – and at the same time found hilariously funny. Because he doesn’t just go hunting, but just as quickly as he confidently explains why he always “treats” himself with a postman at the beginning of the month, for example. What if he meets a woman who is clearly taking heart pills? Then he also likes not to fire his gun – and just terrifies the good woman. Because just because he likes to kill doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe in durability – and won’t even save a bullet if he can!
“Mann beiiß Hund” is bursting with such relentlessly brutally staged moments, which are simply hilarious in their absurdity, until the laughter gets stuck in your throat again. Because the killer not only gradually rams the film team that accompanies him to his side and, for example, involves the crew in his loot, he also mercilessly wraps the audience around his finger – while his racist or otherwise discriminatory statements become increasingly drastic, his atrocities become increasingly cruel .
So your own perception begins to fade more and more. You hardly notice how you go from witness to accomplice, so to speak, whose thirst for thrills eventually becomes the catalyst of horror – literally requiring further bloodshed. Just for the sake of entertainment.
Because whether it’s about buying a movie ticket, clicking on a streaming platform or the time we spend on this or that TV channel: Ultimately, it’s up to us how we want to spend our time – and we should always be aware that we have a direct influence on what will be served to us in the future…