Bullhead (2011)

Screen Shot captured from film

I've been wanting to see Bullhead for a very long time, and thankfully my roommate ordered the film off Amazon.com so we had the pleasure of viewing it on Oct. 3. The film's country of origin is Belgium, and therefore it's proper title is Rundskop, although it's anglicized title is Bullhead. It was directed by Michael R. Roskam and was released in 2011.

The film follows Jacky Vanmarsenille, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, a young cattle farmer who enters into a shady deal with a Flemish beef trader. Their agreement involves Jacky illegally injecting his cattle with undetectable steroids to be sold to the trader. As soon as Jacky enters into this agreement, he realizes his mistake and does everything in his ability to somehow break their contract. While that main plot unfolds, there is also a subplot that follows Jacky's own drug addiction which stems from an early childhood trauma.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It may have had the facade of your run of the mill gangster saga, but unlike Lawless, Bullhead played to it's strengths. Yes, the main plot followed a gang related tale, but it was the subplot that propelled the film, and at times overshadowed. The main plot of illegally injecting cattle with steroids acted as a sort of metaphor for Jacky's drug addiction. It is startling to see in one shot Jacky injecting his cows, and then in the very next shot Jacky injecting himself. Most of the time, shots of Jacky shooting up where juxtaposed with close ups of the cattle moving through their pens.

 Jacky's code name to the police is fittingly "Bullhead." It makes sense to compare Jacky to his animals, especially a bull. The reason Jacky started injecting drugs was due to the loss of his testicles when he was a child after being brutally attack by another boy. Jacky feels entirely useless in the sense that he cannot give live or provide for a woman the way he feels is natural. He looks to himself as a steer, which is a castrated bull, and views himself to be wholly useless to the collective. He is entirely singular and alone. It makes sense that he is called Bullhead, however, because he projects the image of normalcy onto his life, and his desire to be a "bull" overshadows any other desire he might have. He injects steroids to numb the pain of his loss of masculinity and to make up for the fact that he can't ever be what he so yearns to be.

The metaphor of animality in the film is a strong one. Quite plainly, Jacky is a beast. He views himself as one, as do most other characters of the film. His cruel and untamable nature is showcased when he tortures two mechanics, brutally beats a man outside of a nightclub, and when he climactically ends his own life by overdosing on the very drugs that he injects into his cattle. And strangely, just as it is natural to feel remorse at the fact that animals are put on hormones and injected with steroids, it is remorseful to see Jacky go. Just as an animal is helpless, Jacky is helpless.

I would recommend this film to anyone who has an interest in foreign film, as well as an interest in film that works as a metaphor. It is vastly engaging, and also makes for a good conversation after you finish viewing. I give it a B+.