Film Review: Provokation (short film) (2002)

REVIEW:

“Provokation” is a 15 minute German short film created by extreme filmmaker Marian Dora. While being one of his earlier shorts, “Provokation” is indeed closer to being a case of “taking things too far” than any type of artistic offering. My viewing of this hard to watch short ended mostly on the question of “why” rather than being impressed on any creative level. The listing for the movie was also absent of actor credits.

The dialog-less short begins with who we assume is the father of this story. As he reminisces over his wife (of whom we also assume is out of the picture), he ventures over to spy on a young girl (which we also assume to be his teen daughter).

During these moments a lovely family-friendly soundtrack plays in the background like something you might hear playing in an early 70’s sitcom. The tone takes a quick dive into sleazy as he observes his daughter sleeping and then proceeds to watch her from a peephole in the bathroom.

This escalates into criminal and perverse with every step of the way getting darker and more unsettling. For simplification lets just say the piece is somewhat x-rated as he subjects his daughter to his “needs” ending in her death (after kicking her in the crotch repeatively).

That might suffice as “I’ve seen enough” which goes a bit further with him pleasuring himself on her, digging into her anus and then licking his fingers in admiration. The whole event is just plain wrong enhanced by a changed soundtrack that becomes industrial and droning.

Marian Dora does seem to have some issues which are demonstrated in this debut trash cinema piece. The camera work and editing do provide some interest points often feeling more retro than anything which could have worked better if not for the very explicit subject matter and perversities of the movie. I can’t recommend this piece for these reasons (which was to be track down regardless). The short was included as part of a bonus pack on the “Cannibal” DVD release. This DVD in its entirety is for fans of extreme “only”.

There was no synopsis for this film. The exclusion of a synopsis was probably a good choice in the case of this dark x-rated short.