Sleeping Dogs (1977)

 

Sleeping Dogs

“Sleeping Dogs” is a new addition to the List from the major overhaul of the 10^th edition of the Book. Its claim to fame is that it launched the careers of director Roger Donaldson and actor Sam Neill and according to several sources (the Book, Wikipedia) placed New Zealand on “the map” and hailed as the best New Zealandic movie ever. Yeah, I will come back to that later.

In a near future Smith (Sam Neill, and yes, all men here go by surname while the women go by first names…) leaves home due to a family dispute. We later learn that his wife, Gloria (Nevan Rowe), has an affair with the unsympathetic Bullen (Ian Mune). Smith venture on a life as a hermit on a deserted island off the Coromandel peninsula. Meanwhile New Zealand is thrown into turmoil. I am not at all certain about the details, but it is something about increasing energy prices (strangely familiar…) causing unrest, government provoking violent incidents so they can turn fascist and assert their power with military force.

Smith is drawn into this fight when it turns out his island is a weapon cache, and the authorities believe he is affiliated with the rebels. In a fascist system there are no innocents, so Smith is left with no choice by to escape, which in turn makes him a celebrity on the rebel side. Smith does not accept that role, he wants nothing to do with any fight and just want to be left alone and for a while get work as a handyman at a motel. That is, until the American army (!?) shows up headed by Colonel Willoughby (Warren Oates) and Bullen (who is now a militant rebel) coerce Smith into helping him with an assault on the soldiers. The evil guy, Jesperson (Clyde Scott) carries an uncanny resemblance to Putin…

Where “Sleeping Dogs” is best, the ordinariness of the scenery and the characters help lending a naturalistic feel to the story. This is a story of regular people in a regular world. The amateurishness of some of the acting efforts lends credibility to this angle. The same dilettante element, however, sabotage the credibility of other scenes. A lot of the actions and many of the characters are simply unbelievable when they are not just being ordinary people. The only actors who really get away with their roles are Sam Neill himself and Warren Oates. This element is not limited to the acting efforts but also the script, the choices made by characters and even the plot.

I did wonder a lot about the plot and the aim of the movie. What is it really about? The threat of fascism? An antiwar statement? Anti-establishment? It seems to say that people in power, aka. the government, will want more power and use any excuse to get that, because control and power is… well what governments want. That, maybe, what “the righteous” should do is simply stand back and refuse to take part in the power struggle. It feels as if the authors have taken a banana republic model and applied that on a modern western country as if New Zealand in southern Vietnam. Interesting, maybe even an amusing, idea, but it just does not work out. The turmoil element and civil war aspect just does not go well with New Zealand. It is not a Trumpish mid-western state after all and it is not El Salvador or, yeah, South Vietnam.

Somewhere between the low production value, weak plot and confusing message of the movie I found it increasingly difficult to buy into and really, the only reason to include it on the List is the launching of careers. As to calling it the best NZ movie ever is an insult to much better NZ movies in the nineties.

So, not much of a recommendation from me.