Straw Dogs is easily one of Sam Peckinpah’s finest films. A relentless study in violence that shocks, not with simple gore tactics, but with the jolting effect it has on its characters. Even the most passive viewer may find himself cheering on the carnage of the films’ climax, and in that respect, it’s absolutely chilling. Hoffman is a quiet mathematician married to George. To escape urban violence, they move to her birthplace, a small Cornish village. The pastoral setting is misleading, however, as Hoffman soon finds the town has more than its share of violence-prone louts. When Straw Dogs was released in 1971, it caused great deal of controversy. Some found its violence too graphic and gratuitous, and were equally offended by the film’s tone and depiction of Hoffman’s character. The basic premise of the film -a pacifist having to take a stand- is simply taken to its wildest extreme. Hoffman’s character is -in this vision of machismo- becoming a man: defending his honour, his home, and proving to his disbelieving wife that he is the king of the castle. It’s an admittedly narrow and primitive vision but a powerful one. Straw Dogs is simply one of the strongest statements about violence ever put on the screen.
