The Burbank brothers are the ranch type of Romulus and Remus. Phil handsome, bossy, opinionated, homophobic and violent; George "pot-bellied," placid, thoughtful and mild-mannered. Nothing, however, is as it seems: the two wealthy cattle-owning brothers have slept in the same room for 40 years despite having a huge, luxurious ranch at their disposal.

Despite or thanks to Phil's hostility, George marries local widow Rose who moves to the ranch with her son, "the sissy" Peter.

The boy wants to be a surgeon and is studying for it; between paper flower arrangements and rabbit dissections, he grows up with books and horses.

Adapted from Thomas Savage's 1967 novel of the same name, Campion transposes for the big screen the story she claims to have been bewitched by. The themes of masculinity, nostalgia and betrayal, accompanied by a biblical title, manage to render, in a way that is far from didactic thankfully, the meaning, the sense of the tale.

One discovers complexities and depths that delineate the characters and their own ambiguity; a strong psycho-emotional tension, a devious play of parts muffled by appearances with themes only hinted at or hidden.

In addition to this a denunciation of the uneasy and separated condition of American Indians, ghettoized on reservations, and more generally a careful observation and in-depth study of the human condition and its own frailty and undoubted relational difficulty that digs beyond appearances.

The power of the dog is the ability and awareness of the rich and powerful to be able to oppress the poor and those who have no power whatsoever, moreover in American slang the dog, especially the black dog is a synonym for addiction.

The film is a depiction of the endless matryoshka of violence and submission determined by families, affections, experiences, absences..

Breaking the chain of which is the impossible obstacle to the fate of a humanity too fragile to break it, too unconscious to detect it.

Everyone is victim and executioner of his own and others' path, servant or master in an alternating sense, alienating or alienated at will.

The short-circuit of addictions determined by heredity, contagion, and rejection and interrupted only by anarchic or systemic psychopathology are the implication that Campion skillfully constructs.

Anthrax, the bacterium that pollutes Phil's body and life will wickedly creep into all who wish to find a reference to Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain with which it has absolutely nothing to do.

Deliver us from the power of the dog and the silly, superficial similes-though from the sword no one will save our souls!

20-Aug-2023 by Beatrice