Straw Dogs
By Kit Macdonald
Dustin Hoffman stars in the troubled genius Sam Peckinpah's thriller, the title of which refers to a discussion in the Tao Te Ching that draws parallels between people and the ancient Chinese ceremonial straw dog, which are of ceremonial worth but afterwards are discarded with indifference. Straw Dogs investigates, in sometimes shocking fashion, the question of whether civilisation is merely a thin veneer over our primal instincts and is morally ambiguous in its responses.
Hoffman plays David Sumner, a timid American mathematician, and Susan George his wife, Amy. The couple move to rural England in search of a quiet life but tensions rise between David and some local men who take advantage of his passivity. Part of Filmoteca's Sam Packinpah season, which runs throughout February and will be well worth diving headlong into.