The Story of Armin Meiwes and Bernd Jurgen Brandes

Directed by Marian Dora, Cannibal (2005) was the inspiration for me to begin a blog. This inspiration is very much different than what one would expect. I guess it didn't so much inspire me as much as it gave me this feeling of immediacy, a feeling that the film should be acknowledged and written about. I couldn't watch the film in its entirety without covering my eyes and taking a walk away from it for a moment. Cannibal is the most repugnant and disgusting film I've yet to see and I'm quite experienced with films of intense and morbid nature. I've seen films like Cannibal Holocaust, which shocked my friends but left me quite surprised at their reaction since I was relatively unscathed, Passolini's Salo: 120 Days of Sodom, which impressed me with its artistry that its content could be easily ignored, and Gaspar Noé's Irreversible, which is also incredibly artistic, but the first half hour is definitely a good time not to eat or to have just eaten. However, these three films, among many others considered unconventionally violent and morbid, had not effected me as much as Cannibal.

Cannibal is based upon the incredible story of two German men who met online; one who's desire is to eat a man with certain physical qualities and another who wishes to be eaten. The real men are named Armin Meiwes, the man who desires to eat, and Bernd Jurgen Brandes, the man who wishes to be eaten. However, in this film, Meiwes is titled as the Human, played by Carsten Frank and Brandes is titled as the Flesh, played by Victor Brandl. When these two men meet, they fully express their desires. The camera seems to have a fixation on the mouths, hands and genitals of the two men. As the Flesh explains his desire, he does so with a saliva drenched lisp and the camera focuses on his mouth's movements and moisture. Before any violent act takes place, the two men create an incredible relationship, shown in a very off-beat and oddly disturbing montage. At one moment, the men are playing Bocce ball naked on a beautiful day, another moment, the two are having passionate and violent sex. But, soon enough, the two must delve into their desires and act upon them. However, the Human shows some hesitance and the Flesh decides to return home. However, at the train station, the Human convinces the Flesh to come back and both men's desires are fulfilled in some of the most elongated scenes of violence I have experienced.

The film tries, and succeeds, in capturing an air of transcendence by employing certain tactics. As previously mentioned, the two main characters are titled as The Man and The Flesh in its end credits. As well, there's barely any dialogue (which is English). In fact, the first twenty minutes don't include any dialogue at all, but include many scenes involving the Man's interaction with people in a village. Frank does a good job of physically communicating to the camera the emotions of his conversations with others without over exaggerating. The film's setting is also very much discrete. The only indication of Germany is the Man's village, which has architecture which is very much German. But most of the film includes scenes outside, dominated by green, or are inside the Man's house, which is dominated by darkness. This sense of transcendence is one the film's strongest tool in creating a sense of realism and in creating a connection between the film and its viewers.

However, it wasn't the film's subject matter that got to me so much as it was the images and their construction. The film is incredibly digital with pixelation occurring often. This type of image resolution really adds to the film's realism, very much in the same way that grain or black and white on a celluloid film can create realism. There's also a delay between the actor's dialogue and their lip movement. Whether done on purpose or not, this desynchronization really leaves one incredibly uneasy. The editing is also incredibly disjointed. A very disorienting experience is created by the editing which uses jump-cuts and multiple cuts within a single scene. Another aspect that struck me was the film's lighting, or lack off. During scenes of torture, an example being a scene where the Flesh asks the Human to bite off his penis, the room is dimly lit with candles. Another example being a scene during the Human's butchering of the Flesh after his death. The kitchen where the scene is set in is, again, dimly lit with this eerie and cold light shining through the kitchen's windows. Overall, it's the film's jumpy cohesion and convincing realism that creates a very provoking and queasy experience.

Though these examples are important to the film's tone, horror films today must have impressive special effects to take that sense of realism up a notch and as expected, Cannibal does not lack. As I said, I was not able to fully watch certain scenes and these scenes included scenes of convincing effects, one example being a scene involving disembowelment. However, one scene that included repulsively compelling special effects was a scene involving the castration of the Flesh where the camera unflinchingly watches every stroke of the Human's knife. After the castration, the bloody "remains" begin urinating, again without the camera shying away at all. The special effects are indescribable. The film is efficient in making you wonder exactly how they did all this.

Most of the elements used in Cannibal are very popular in horror films today. However, these elements were weaved together better than the majority of its contemporaries and created a disturbing and original experience. Also, unlike most horror films today where realism is created through a sort of nihilism where all hope is gone, Cannibal, in its weird way, embraces life and its weird occurrences. After all, the men, in the end, attain their unusual dream. Cannibal is successful in studying an extraordinary case involving the primitive relationship of "the hunter" and "the hunted" when applied to the complexities of everyday humans.

I warn you, do not think that this review will take the edge off of the film. There's several incredibly disturbing scenes and details that I decided to leave out. SEVERAL!

Weird Fact:

There's a weird choice of actors to play these roles. Victor Brandl, playing the Flesh, looks very much like Brandes, while Carsten Frank who play the Human looks nothing at all like Meiwes. Why was this decision made. My suggestion, everyone has "the hunter" desire in them, only a few have "the hunted" desire in them.