Men & Chicken

Dir: Anders Thomas Jensen

2015

****

Men & Chicken is a strange film to describe but if you are aware of the work of director Anders Thomas Jensen then you will know what to expect – that is, you will know to expect something unexpected. Much like Jensen’s other films, there is nothing else quite like it. I love that it was shortlisted by Denmark to be their submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards and I’m still saddened that it didn’t make the final cut. The story begins with two brothers, Gabriel and Elias (David Dencik and Mads Mikkelsen) as we see them around their father’s death. Gabriel is first to the hospital and witnesses his father pass as Elias is on a date with a female psychiatrist – purely to ask her to analyse his dreams. He tells her his dream of a dove coming through a window, revealing itself to be his brother and of his overwhelming desire to rape it. He gets the call, leaves his date and goes to the hospital. It is then discovered that their father had left them both a video tape, in it they discover that they both are adopted half-brothers. They discover that their biological father is Evelio Thanatos, a geneticist specialised in stem cell research. To learn about their mother and to meet their biological father, the brothers choose to visit the Island of Ork where they find out that they have three other half-brothers Franz, Josef and Gregor (Søren Malling, Nicolas Bro and  Nikolaj Lie Kaas). Both Gabriel and Elias are welcomed with a beating (with a stuffed animal and a large metal pot), but in due course, the brothers get along. All five half-brothers have hare-lips and unattractive facial features or deformities. Gabriel is wheel-chair bound for the first few days of his stay due to the beating he received but Elias is fine and fits in well with his new brothers. Soon, Gabriel and Elias discover that their father is dead and the other brothers have kept it as a secret, pretending that he is alive. Gabriel contacts Flemming (Ole Thestrup), the Mayor of the Island, and makes arrangements for a proper burial. Gabriel, a professor, recognises the difficult, peculiar and poor social skills of his brothers. He tries to alter the lifestyle and become the head of the house (leading with democracy) but after a series of unsuccessful efforts (being beaten and caged by his brothers) he soon has enough and he abandons the house, leaving Elias behind. While Gabriel is away the four brothers go out to find women and jobs, but end up in a series of mishaps. They beat the head of the Island’s only school (which has only two pupils – one of which Gregor had previously attacked) and the only place the brothers find to ‘pick up women’ is in the local old people’s home. Truth be told the film could have done without this ten-minute scene. While at Flemming’s house, Gabriel notices a Heron with human feet enter their garden. Flemming had spoken of the bird that would visit their home often and had done for many years but he had never mentioned its feet. Gabriel then remembered several strange animals around the island and remembers other animals he had seen in the house and goes back to investigate. At the house Gabriel opens a secret hatch which he had intended to look at since his arrival. He finds the preserved fetuses of many cross-species of farm animals and sees experimentation done on humans using stem cells and their father's research. He also finds the preserved corpses of each of the boy’s mothers. The brothers come to the horrific realization from the research notes that each of them is genetically part-animal and that their mothers were subjected to unethical experiments and fatal caesarean births. After reading their father’s notes, they discover that Gabriel is 9% Owl (wise), Elias is 12% Bull (the same bull the brothers keep as a stud and maybe the reason why Elias can’t stop masturbating), Josef is part Dog (sweet and loyal), Gregor is part sheep (a follower but with some intelligence) and Franz is part Chicken (a lesser animal than he would have hoped). In the end the five brothers stay together in the house. The final scene shows them surrounded by family and children, despite the fact that all the brothers, as hybrids, are sterile. It is hinted that the brothers have continued their father's work in order to have children. It is dark but with some humour, somewhere between Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' and The Island of Dr. Moreau but made by the director of The Green Butchers. I had almost forgot what a great character actor Mads Mikkelsen was but he doesn’t steal the show as one might expect because all of the actors are on such great form. It is a tough film to swallow at times but not as strong as it sounds. It has a rather lovely message beneath all the dark themes and it is actually quite a subtle film on reflection, with a rather clever level of detail. Originality wins and they don’t get much more original than this.