So, here's my take on "Power of the Dog."
This movie is only a "western" in the sense that it's set in the west on a cattle ranch but it's really a movie about the personalities involved and their motives. So, until you care about what's going on w/these characters, it's easy to dismss the film as boring and of no merit.
That said, overall, I liked it and I can see why it was nominated for an Oscar for "Best Picture."
The cinematography and the sound track was excellent. There wasn't much dialog but the acting was very good at conveying the characters' emotions, even if the direction was sometimes confusing or inexplicable until later developments clarified what was going on.
Worth the time to watch it if you like films that focus on the "interpersonal" and the complexity of human emotions. But, there is a bit of "Brokeback Mountain" to this film and, if such themes bother you, this probably is NOT the movie for you.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Phil and George are brothers who own/run a big ranch. Phil presents as a "real" cowboy/man and George as more gentrified. Phil dominates George and runs the ranch. George manages the business and wants to move up in social status which Phil wants no part of.
George meets and marries a widow named Rose, who also has a son. Phil immediately sees Rose as a threat to his relationship w/his brother and his control over the ranch. So, he demeans and belittles her, drivng her to drink, which he uses as a tool to try to break up Rose and George. Phil also dislikes Peter, Rose's son, but his relationship w/Peter changes over time.
Initially, he mistreats Peter because he appears weak and effeminate (quiet and introverted) but belittling Peter is also a way for him to do more damage to Rose. However, based on an obvious homoerotic subtext, the relationship between Phil and Peter changes and, while they do not have any sex, at least none that's shown, they share certain intimacies and secrets and Phil comes to have so much affection for Phil that he becomes his protector, teaches him to ride a horse and offers to braid a lasso for him out of cowhide but Peter's feelings for Phil are more complex.
According to Wiki and other sources, Peter was a medical student which is meant to explain why he carries a scapel and latex gloves w/him in his pack but how many medical students do that? Not many, I think.
In any event, one day while Peter is out riding alone he finds a dead cow that we later learn died of anthrax. Not sure if Peter already knows this or not. How would he w/o some way of testing the hide for disease? But, the cow dies for some reason and would be the source of some potentially deadly pathogens. So, he puts on his gloves, takes out his scalpel and cuts off some of the cow's hide, which he later gives to Phil to complete the lasso that Phil is making for him which ultimately causes Phil's death.
It is unclear at which point Peter decided to kill Phil but it seems obvious that's what he decided to do; apparently because of Phil's mistreatment of his mother and the negative effect it was having on her relationship w/George. We understand this when, in the final scene, Peter is standing alone at a window and watches his mother and George kiss in front of the house after burying Phil. So, with Phil dead, Peter wins and at least he believes that their lives now will be better all around.
It is also unclear whether Peter ever had any sexual feelings toward Phil or if Peter was just using Phil's feelings for him against Phil so that Peter could gain Phil's trust and then cause his death. On the other hand, there is no doubt that Phil had great affection for Peter. Phil's offer to make a a lasso for Peter was symbolic of that affection.
Phil became really distraught when Rose gave away some hides that were to be burned but the main reason he was upset was because he didn't have enough hide to finish the lasso for Peter w/o a least some of those hides.
This is where Peter offers to give Phil the anthrax laced hides to complete the lasso which Phil views as an act of affection, not realizing Peter's evil intent.
There's no way for Peter to have known that his mother was going to give away the hides, so he must have had the intention to give the infected hides to Peter before that occured. Phil had cut his hand ealier looking for a rabbit in a pile of wood and then soaked the infected hide in tanning solution which he stirred w/his cut hand as Peter blithely watched and said nothing as he did that.
Phil's feelings for Peter were demonstrated again when he urgently searched for Phil to give him the lasso that he finished, just before he was being driven to the doctor by his brother to treat his illness before he died. Peter was intentionally avoiding him at that moment which speaks volumes about his feelings about Phil.
So, if Peter had any affection for Phil, it was not equal to his love for his mother.
, hadn't seen it in decades.
