Zoo - A documentary on beastiality - Now at Sundance!

Zen Davis

Zen Davis

Banned
[FONT=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica]ARK CITY, Utah -- "Zoo" is a documentary about what director Robinson Devor accurately characterizes as "the last taboo, on the boundary of something comprehensible." But remarkably, an elegant, eerily lyrical film has resulted.

"Zoo," premiering before a rapt audience Saturday night at Sundance, manages to be a poetic film about a forbidden subject, a perfect marriage between a cool and contemplative director (the little-seen "Police Beat") and potentially incendiary subject matter: sex between men and animals. Not graphic in the least, this strange and strangely beautiful film combines audio interviews (two of the three men involved did not want to appear on camera) with elegiac visual re-creations intended to conjure up the mood and spirit of situations. The director himself puts it best: "I aestheticized the sleaze right out of it."

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica] Devor and his writing partner, Charles Mudede, live in Seattle and were stunned, as were many in the state, by a story that broke in 2005 about a local man who died after having sex with an Arabian stallion. Though bestiality is not illegal in Washington, the subsequent revelation of the existence of an Internet-based zoophile community (the men refer to themselves as "zoos," hence the title) was a shock.

Though there was the inevitable tabloid fuss, what Devor called "the prurient spectacle," the filmmaker was also "shocked that nobody did an in-depth look at this, that there was no investigative reporting rounding the story out with the psychology involved. I thought, 'This is an opportunity.' "

Though "Zoo" is intent on allowing these men to be heard, Devor's intention was not polemical. "I'm not in there wrestling with the legal or animal cruelty issues," he said. Rather, he envisioned a film like his others: "I count on the natural world pulling my films through. I thought the marriage of this completely strange mind-set and the beauty of the natural world could be something interesting."

In introducing "Zoo" at Sundance, Devor called it "a difficult film and a difficult film to make."

He added: "A lot of people looked at me as if I was an exploitative person, dredging up something for profit, and that bothered me. I was certainly asked many times, often with a wrinkled brow, 'Why are you making this film?' It was something I did resent; I thought artists had the opportunity to explore anything."

In the end, Devor ended up agreeing with the Roman writer Terence, who said "I consider nothing human alien to me."

"It happens," the filmmaker said, "so it's part of who we are." [/FONT]
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...ance,0,6997847.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

In the predawn hours of July 2, 2005, a dying man was dropped off at a rural emergency room in the Pacific Northwest. A surveillance camera captured the license plate of the car that deposited the man at the hospital. This led detectives to a nearby horse farm, where they found hundreds of hours of videotape of men from all over the world having sex with Arabian stallions. The man's cause of death was a perforated colon.

Although this incident made headlines and the tabloid news, Zoo is the complete antithesis of what you expect. Robinson Devor's filmmaking is as smart as it is eloquent. To begin with, Zoo is neither graphic nor exploitive. Most of it takes the form of recreations, but from the point of view of the men "who met for years without disturbance in the shadows of Mt. Rainier," as Devor puts it. He cleverly captures the essence of these men and their alienation by creating a visual poetry.

The cinematic language invented for the film permits us to examine where we draw the line, how much perversity we can tolerate in others. In a broader sense, Zoo is really about thresholds. What can we stand to know, and, more importantly, what can we stand to accept?— John Cooper
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http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=7414

I only posted this because I want to watch everyone freak out.
 
Poor choice of title. This movie has nothing to do with zoological institutions, and should therefore be titled "Animal fuckers" or something similar.
 
[quote name='shieryda']Poor choice of title. This movie has nothing to do with zoological institutions, and should therefore be titled "Animal fuckers" or something similar.[/quote]

I see you have a thing for monkeys.

NICE!
 
[quote name='shieryda']Poor choice of title. This movie has nothing to do with zoological institutions, and should therefore be titled "Animal fuckers" or something similar.[/QUOTE]
zo·o·phil·i·a (zō'ə-fĭl'ē-ə) also zo·oph·i·lism (zō-ŏf'ə-lĭz'əm)
n.
Affection or affinity for animals.
Erotic attraction to or sexual contact with animals.
 
I'm actually fascinated by the description of the film and the film itself, and not the subject matter. i'd be interested to see just how the director tackled the issue.
 
And he began to brush the animal's tail. The animal stood firm, knowing what was coming next... anticipating it. With a neigh, it spread it's legs...:booty:
 
[quote name='shieryda']Poor choice of title. This movie has nothing to do with zoological institutions, and should therefore be titled "Animal fuckers" or something similar.[/quote]
How about "Horses on Men"?

Get these motherfucking horses off these motherfucking men!
 
After this, there really is no deviant subject matter left to make a documentary about. I recall that NABLA was profiled in the documentary "Chickhawk". I never saw that film but I bet it was hard to watch.
 
[quote name='Xevious']After this, there really is no deviant subject matter left to make a documentary about. I recall that NABLA was profiled in the documentary "Chickhawk". I never saw that film but I bet it was hard to watch.[/QUOTE]

what about self-rape?

nobody has tackled that yet

*tackles self*
 
[quote name='shieryda']Poor choice of title. This movie has nothing to do with zoological institutions, and should therefore be titled "Animal fuckers" or something similar.[/quote]

How about "Furries!"?
 
"It's against the law to harm children; it should be against the law to violate an animal."

Cuz' obviously children should be treated like animals and vice versa.... fail.
 
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