And now we get to two of the films that I’ll have to put down as not exactly my favorites. As I’ve said before, I don’t normally beat up on small films, but as the title of this piece might indicate, these two films need to be exposed for what they are. Claudio Assis’s Bog of Beasts (Brazil) and Jilani Saadi’s Tender is the Wolf have both, according to their filmmakers, been misunderstood. Well, I’m pretty sure that’s complete bollocks. Not only that, but I can find no excuse for the 2007 IFFR VPRO Tiger Awards jury to have given an award (even one ex aequo) to Assis’s film. From my second day in town, the words being used to describe this film included such “superlatives” as: loathsome, repugnant, vile, irredeemable and misogynist.
I cannot remember if I have ever seen a more contemptible or brutal film. This story of life in a small Brazilian village is so chock-a-block with despicable characters as to defy description. It’s something like I’d imagine a town would be if it were almost completely populated with pederasts, rapists and incestuous (not to mention pedophilic) old men. This village is so far to the fucked zone of the moral compass, the drunks, pimps and whores are the among the more virtuous citizens. It’s a village where the sons of the rich fit in the narrow range between being only morally bankrupt and being psychosexually sociopathic, all without any sort of consequence. This is a group led by a caricature of a man so insane, that gang-raping a prostitute isn’t enough for him, he also need to sodomize her with what appears to be a 2 x 4.
So there it was, February 6th and I was taking my customary 3-day Amsterdam break between the 
So, here’s a brief statistical rundown of my 
As of the end of my day on February 1st, I’ve seen all or part of 15 films in my 5 days of screenings which for those of you familiar with my past festival behavior must seem like I’ve been kidnapped by aliens. Not only that but, I’ve not bought or smoked any cannabinoids, have been up before 9am every day and was back at my hotel before midnight every day but one. But enough about me….cinema!