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55%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #6,679
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Through interviews and recreation, Zoo tells the story of "zoos," or men who "love" animals, through a group of men involved in the fatal incident involving man-horse love.
--TMDb
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There have been few documentaries this year to really make an impression on me, and I had started thinking I wasn't going to have much input into the whole Best Documentary category this year at the Academy Awards, and then along came "Zoo". To call this a strange documentary would be unkind. It's actually a brilliantly constructed documentary about a very strange story. One night, after having sexual intercourse with a horse, a Washington area man bled to death from a ruptured colon and brought national attention to zoophilia and a group of Washington farmers who met every weekend to share their love of animals with one another. "Zoo" explores these men and their love of animals, especially horses, and the events leading to the death of one of their own.
Most of the film is told through re-enactments, with voice over narration from the men themselves. We learn about how they all found one another on the internet, after years and years of thinking they were the only ones with those kinds of feelings. Once they knew there were others with the same preferences, they organized a weekly meeting at one of their farms, where they would socialize, have a few drinks, and even take their love of horses to the next level. Most of the information provide comes from the men themselves, as they just can't see why they are looked down upon for what they feel is a healthy and fulfilling love for animals. We even hear from a horse rescuer who closes the film by saying she can almost understand why they love them so deeply.
A lot of people will be turned off of this subject matter and won't see "Zoo" because of it, but this is not a graphic documentary. It's very tame in the way it handles the subject matter and it does its best to present the facts accurately and clearly. "Zoo" felt like it might have been directed by David Lynch. The music by Paul Matthew Moore has a Tim Burton-esque quality which really adds to the overall eeriness of some of the sequences, which seem Lynch inspired, to say the least. The way the film is composed is beautiful and the choice to re-enact most of the happenings was a good one, especially the scene where the man is running through the field of the horses, at night. These are beautiful scenes about tragic consequences. "Zoo" was thought provoking, engaging and one of the brightest spots I have seen in the documentary genre all year. It truly was an incredible film.
10/10.
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#1:
Tristan
- added December 1, 2007 at 4:52pm
Great documentary. I've been anticipating it for
some time, and when I finally got the chance to
see it I wasn't disappointed. 9/10
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#2:
Edd
- added December 10, 2007 at 9:26am
A little discouraging. Wasn't brought out the way
it should have been. Overall good doc. though.
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#3:
bluemeanie
- added December 10, 2007 at 9:56am
What do you mean -- "Wasn't brought out the way it
should have been?"
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