Cannibal

Marian Dora

Unearthed Films

Distributed by Anthem Pictures USA

R1 DVD

In 2003 a rather quiet and unassuming gay forty-one year named Armin Meiwes was charged and convicted of manslaughter for eating and killing forty-three year old Bernd-Jurgen Brandes who answered his post on an internet notice board. It seems that while he had found others who shared his cannibal obsession, it had taken some years to find someone who would be willing to take it to its final conclusion.

Meiwes admitted his crimes and openly discussed them with the police, indeed he handed over the video tape he used to record the event to German authorities who used it as evidence in his trial. The case achieved a high level of notoriety especially considering that it seemed that Bernd-Jurgen Brandes voluntarily agreed to be eaten and killed and indeed this was the justification for the manslaughter verdict.

Cannibal, the 2005 independent film from German filmmaker Marian Dora is a disturbing and powerful film. It is a re-enactment of the case and rather than taking a cinematic approach it realistically portrays the experience in “real time”. We observe what occurs as insiders rather than passive viewers and this is what makes this film very confronting.

Rather than getting some sort of insight into what occurs, we simply experience two men in the process of getting to know each other intimately, emotionally and sexually and then moving forward to the literal act of dismemberment and consumption. At early stages of the film we can even feel the beauty of the intimacy between them and then re-enforces the emotional intensity of the later violence. The sheer bluntness of the presentation and the brutality of what is depicted is breathtaking. Only those with a very strong stomach will handle this, they not only pan fry his “manhood” but then continue on where Brandes is hung upside-down, his inner organs and skin are removed and he is turned into meat much like a human “pantry” from which Meiwes can regularly take his meals.

It is a strange film, sexually explicit, with periods of great intimacy and human affection, followed by intense violence, yet the violence was consensual, so it leaves a lot to ponder. What emotional drives must overtake someone to lead to such extremes; we gain some insight from passing reflections on his childhood and obsessions, but nothing that really explains what occurs.

This is nicely filmed, it has a great “look”, which is evocative and moody, the acting is solid and the Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo is a good mix with a highly impressive soundtrack that creates a edgy and atmospheric environment.