Cover Art

Credits

Director: Marian Dora Starring: Carsten Frank, Victor Brandl Screenplay: Marian Dora Country: Germany

That's the plot of the film as well, so if you know about the court case, you know what happens. The film starts with the Meiwes character searching for his special pal, but having trouble getting takers. He turns down one junkie in a Minor Threat shirt, which I found amusing because the junkie must've missed that whole straight edge thing Minor Threat started. Most of the early scenes have no dialogue, and there's no dialogue between characters for the first 23 minutes.

When the Meiwes character finally finds the Brandes character, we do get some brief talking. Then it's on to the guys getting to know each other, which I also found a bit boring. It does make sense that given their relationship is about their bodies, dialogue isn't really needed, but just watching them explore each other wasn't exactly gripping viewing. But their journey isn't just sexual, and certainly isn't just about hunger; the Meiwes character wishes to become one with the Brandes character. While it was interesting to see the dynamic between the two, with the "victim" clearly the dominant one, the film is too arty for my tastes. I need plot to go along with the pictures on screen, and what little this film had, I already knew from the trial. There are a few moments of extremely black humour, but they were too far between for me to remain interested.

The film reminded me a bit of Ulli Lommel's Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (Lommel actually directed his own watered down, heterosexual version of this story with a film also called Cannibal), with the Meiwes character resembling Kurt Raab from Zärtlichkeit. The gore and violence are pretty intense when they finally arrive, but again, there's not much story to go with them. The FX are generally simple, yet effective, and one scene in particular is almost as graphic as what you'd find in Slaughter Disc. Another ups the ante on a staple from virtually every Green Hell cannibal flick to levels that aren't likely to be surpassed any time soon. Cannibal revels in realism, with some things, particularly the discharge of bodily waste, being really nasty. The film plays almost like a doco, with only minor changes to the events it's based on, like some things taking place outside instead of in, to drive the reality home even more.

The story itself is very disturbing and interesting. It had a cameo in Feed, and was the basis for Ramms+ein's "Mein Teil," and already has at least two films made specifically about it. I'm sure there'll be more to come.