Living With Us
- Posted: 15th Oct 2010
- Category: Reviews
- Tags: bronwen parker jones, spine tv, living with us
The British public are no stranger to the unusual relationship that can exist between man and beast; we are the nation who proudly announces the dog as man’s best friend and makes the family pet head of the household. It’s no surprise then that London-based filmmaker Bronwen Parker Rhodes should take the intimate relations of animal trainer and their students as the focus of her new documentary currently showing on Spine TV. Following an array of German animal trainers from lion tamer to bird whisperer, Rhodes poses some interesting questions about these close inter species relations.
Filmed predominantly in handheld, close-up shots, it is difficult to deny the tenderness and love that exists between the trainer and trainee. We are really taken to the heart of these relationships with once wild animals and given full access to the coos and caresses from both sides. However, there is an overarching sadness to the film that resonates throughout and a problem which has plagued the captive animal industry for decades: should wild animals be tamed? The film rarely depends on dialogue to answer the viewer’s questions but rather plays along a twinkling childlike soundtrack that both compliments and unsettles. When we do get to hear from the tamers themselves the admissions throw up even more questions. A scene that sees the lion tamer describe his work as “teaching the animals to become little artists” cuts to a circus performance shot under neon lights. Seeing a lion described as such and set to perform as the proverbial monkey starts to take a sinister tone.
Rhodes doesn’t shy away from raising questions about the sexualisation of these relationships, not least when the bird whisperer takes his student to a shoot in a seedy glamour studio. Perched on the shoulder of an extremely unanimal-friendly model, our feathered friend risks a cheeky lick of the models face. Her revulsion is our amusement and is mirrored in a later scene when the bird whisperer exchanges a kiss (tongues and all!) with his parrot.
Rhodes does present a compelling doc despite the relative lack of dialogue and story development. But it’s difficult to see past the bizarreness that is many of the intimate moments between man and beast. And whether it was the filmmaker’s intention or not, I was ultimately left a little bemused as to what modern man’s positive influence on nature is?
Dir. Bronwen Parker Rhodes, UK, 2010, 34:18mins
German/English
Watch Living With Us on Spine TV if this gets you interested.
Want some more? Check out our Q&A with VBS.TV about commissioning online docs, and why they're so hungry for filmmakers to come to their door.