Benny's VideoI remember first hearing the word "affluenza" used back in 2013, with the arrest of a teenager named Ethan Couch, who killed four people while driving under the influence. The defense in the court case cited "affluenza"--a portmanteau of "affluent" and "influenza"--as a basis for justifying his actions, hardly a step removed from an insanity plea. The idea was that because Couch was brought up in an affluent lifestyle, he was not mentally equipped to realize that this behavior was wrong for the rest of society. This is the first thing that came to mind after watching Benny's Video, a movie by Michael Haneke about a fourteen year old named Benny (Arno Frisch) who has an unhealthy obsession with videos and movies, including a nasty piece he shot with his family at a farm which opens the movie...of a pig being slaughtered with a captive bolt pistol.
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The aforementioned "pig video" is not simulated, and is a shocking way to open this movie. (Animal lovers: STAY AWAY!) And I have to say this, I'm never enthused to see any unsimulated slaughter in any movie; death is not entertainment. But, conversely, it is effective in driving home the point of Benny's Video, which is an unvarnished look at how we teach our children (or don't, in the case of Benny's parents) about the value of life, and how that can be terribly warped in the absence of parental guidance. This film is a condemnation of our society that is flooded with stimuli and devoid of necessary barriers. (And to think that this movie is now over thirty years old...how little has changed it would seem.) Benny lives in an affluent apartment in the city, attends school, and is generally left to his own devices. His parents--Georg (Ulrich Mühe) and Anna (Angela Winkler)--are professionals, and it is suggested that the are rarely even home. Shortly after the opening, we are shown another video of a party at the apartment, presumably hosted by Benny's sister, Eva (Stephanie Brehme), who lives on her own in a shabbier flat. They seem to be engaged in some kind of "game" (which amounts to little more than a pyramid scheme) about "pilots" or something. George comes home, clearly unexpected, and the party breaks up. He isn't outwardly mad, but it's clear that this wasn't something he was in on. The reason for this scene's importance is twofold: it is shot on video (presumably by Benny), and shows how he processes the world through the eye of the camera. Also, it shows that George (and Anna, to an extent) are more concerned with their own social standing and comfort than in raising their children to be upright and well-behaved. (The party isn't that wild, but that it concerns a con game is cause for concern.) For them, they adhere to the misguided parental approach that their kids are just little versions of themselves, and will act accordingly. So they give Benny his space. His room is full of shelves of video tapes. His television is always on, and he is usually listening to heavy metal. The news that he watches is filled with horrific stories from around the world (as always), and channel-surfing Benny often flips between these and all other manner of assorted programs. The television is his window to the world, literally. Even though he has a view of the street from his room, he prefers to see it by way of a camera positioned to look out the window instead. He keeps the blinds drawn and lives in near darkness. So, as in films like Videodrome before it, the television becomes the "retina of the mind's eye" for Benny. He spends his time away from school in video stores, watching car chases and violence, sampling "the goods" before adding another entry to his frequent renter's card. It's outside the video store that he catches sight of a young girl about his age (Ingrid Stassner), and after a while, he invites her back to his apartment. Their encounter is awkward. Trying to look cool, Benny offers the girl a cigarette; she refuses, even the second time he does it. He shows her the pig slaughtering video, and this is where the girl should have gotten wise and fled. Regrettably, she doesn't. He heats some microwave pizza, and plays a bit too rough with her while it cools. Again, she sticks around. What this amounts to is Benny clumsily flirting with the girl, hoping that she has common interests because she was at the video store like him--a common thing for adolescents to do, sure. However, something isn't right with Benny, and the girl doesn't truly grasp this until it is too late. He eventually pulls out a purloined captive bolt pistol and holds it against his chest, daring her to fire it. She doesn't, and he calls her a coward. He then points it at her chest, and he doesn't fire. She calls him a coward, continuing their game. Benny takes it too far...and fires. And playtime is over.
Benny's not likable from the start, but so are a lot of teenagers. Withdrawn, inconsiderate, even acting out in school (like trading what look like OTC drugs during choir practice). But when he realizes his terrible error at shooting the girl, amid her screams and cries, he panics in the worst way. He tries to shoot her again, intending on killing her like he saw happen with the pig in his video. He fails on the first attempt, but not the second, as her screams chillingly and abruptly end. From here, he fails consistently to do the right thing. He doesn't call his parents or the police (more importantly) as he should. He hardly even tries to cover it up, haphazardly wiping up the blood with towels. He has a snack as her cooling body bleeds out on his tiled bedroom floor. He undresses and smears the blood on his body, confused at the sensation...but that doesn't stop him from recording himself doing it and taking a phone call from his school chum, Ricci (Stefan Polasek), in the midst. It would be reductive to dismiss Benny as a "psychopath"; he truly doesn't understand what he has done. After having seen so much blood and violence on TV, he doesn't differentiate between the girl's gore and "ketchup and plastic". He carries on with his weekend while his parents are out of town, sleeps over at Ricci's after going to a concert even; the two stay up late secretly smoking. But something starts to happen afterward. The first sign that Benny is having a psychological crisis comes after he has his hair shorn off. His father is ultimately more outraged at this event than he is later when Benny reveals to his parents what he has done. Their response is almost unbelievable, and we immediately understand why this didn't register as "wrong" for Benny. His father goes through the motions of weighing what they should do, not failing to point out the damage to their "reputations" that it would have to go to the police. Before long, he predictably decides that destroying the body is necessary, sending Benny and his mother on vacation (seriously) to Egypt for a week while he apparently disposes of the girl's remains. (It is implied that he reduces her to fine pieces so as to send her "down the drain".) It is at this juncture where the movie offers a kind of explanation: that Benny is more of a victim than he first appears to be...that is by way of his failed upbringing. No, he is not faultless, not in the slightest, and he comes to realize this after seeing how his parents react. But it becomes easier to see how he got to this point when his parents are far too comfortable putting their welfare above justice. This girl had a family, and although hers may not have been as well off as Benny's, that doesn't make her life less worthwhile and so easy to ignore. So many people walk through their lives in a daze, putting their happiness and security above the lives of others, getting so wrapped up in the minutiae of modern life that we forget what's right and what's wrong. The TV is no help (nor the internet, nor politicians); rather, they only make things worse. That is the overarching message of Benny's Video: that our worldview and our morals cannot come from media. It must come from our upbringing, our society, and the values we teach our children must be good one, or we are doomed.
Recommended for: Fans of a chilling yet powerful statement about the dangers of media overconsumption on a developing mind. As mentioned before, Benny's Video includes exceptionally graphic and disturbing content, so only those truly prepared for this should consider watching it.
Benny's not likable from the start, but so are a lot of teenagers. Withdrawn, inconsiderate, even acting out in school (like trading what look like OTC drugs during choir practice). But when he realizes his terrible error at shooting the girl, amid her screams and cries, he panics in the worst way. He tries to shoot her again, intending on killing her like he saw happen with the pig in his video. He fails on the first attempt, but not the second, as her screams chillingly and abruptly end. From here, he fails consistently to do the right thing. He doesn't call his parents or the police (more importantly) as he should. He hardly even tries to cover it up, haphazardly wiping up the blood with towels. He has a snack as her cooling body bleeds out on his tiled bedroom floor. He undresses and smears the blood on his body, confused at the sensation...but that doesn't stop him from recording himself doing it and taking a phone call from his school chum, Ricci (Stefan Polasek), in the midst. It would be reductive to dismiss Benny as a "psychopath"; he truly doesn't understand what he has done. After having seen so much blood and violence on TV, he doesn't differentiate between the girl's gore and "ketchup and plastic". He carries on with his weekend while his parents are out of town, sleeps over at Ricci's after going to a concert even; the two stay up late secretly smoking. But something starts to happen afterward. The first sign that Benny is having a psychological crisis comes after he has his hair shorn off. His father is ultimately more outraged at this event than he is later when Benny reveals to his parents what he has done. Their response is almost unbelievable, and we immediately understand why this didn't register as "wrong" for Benny. His father goes through the motions of weighing what they should do, not failing to point out the damage to their "reputations" that it would have to go to the police. Before long, he predictably decides that destroying the body is necessary, sending Benny and his mother on vacation (seriously) to Egypt for a week while he apparently disposes of the girl's remains. (It is implied that he reduces her to fine pieces so as to send her "down the drain".) It is at this juncture where the movie offers a kind of explanation: that Benny is more of a victim than he first appears to be...that is by way of his failed upbringing. No, he is not faultless, not in the slightest, and he comes to realize this after seeing how his parents react. But it becomes easier to see how he got to this point when his parents are far too comfortable putting their welfare above justice. This girl had a family, and although hers may not have been as well off as Benny's, that doesn't make her life less worthwhile and so easy to ignore. So many people walk through their lives in a daze, putting their happiness and security above the lives of others, getting so wrapped up in the minutiae of modern life that we forget what's right and what's wrong. The TV is no help (nor the internet, nor politicians); rather, they only make things worse. That is the overarching message of Benny's Video: that our worldview and our morals cannot come from media. It must come from our upbringing, our society, and the values we teach our children must be good one, or we are doomed.
Recommended for: Fans of a chilling yet powerful statement about the dangers of media overconsumption on a developing mind. As mentioned before, Benny's Video includes exceptionally graphic and disturbing content, so only those truly prepared for this should consider watching it.