In their documentary, director Robinson Devor and writer Charles Mudede narrate a case of accidental death from bestiality which occurred in Enumclaw, Washington in 2005. This case put a focus on the absence of bestiality restrictions in that state, the only place in the United States where this activity was not punished by law. The film, however, completely moves away from legal issues and sensationalism, and presents with delicate elegance a docudrama about the point of view of those who were involved in these acts.
The advent of the Internet gave a group of men the opportunity to communicate online and create underground communities about their romantic love for animals. It was a way for them to share information and in some cases realize their fantasies. All characters, except for Coyote, are portrayed by actors providing their point of view. The documentary team sympathizes with this group but also maintains enough of a distance to ensure the viewer can create their own judgment, because the objective of this film is to show how their world falls apart once the news about the death of one of the members from anal peritonitis caused by a horse became public. This documentary does not take a moral stance and differentiates itself from other documentaries by taking an inquisitive approach, a style the director has referred to as “anti-position”.
Historically, not only has there been a high level of animal abuse, but there have also been cases of horses being used as objects of desire. Perhaps it is because of our idea of the horse as the epitome of elegance, purity and loyalty, this ancient idea of linking the figure with the divine. Variations of this idea appear in literature and film, where the horse would sometimes have a more mystical and supernatural significance. In “Gulliver’s Travels”, Jonathan Swift creates the world of the Houyhnhnms (defined as the perfect creature in their language), wise horses which govern an inferior race known for their savagery and which are physically similar to humans called the Yahoos. The horses are threatened by violence and the lack of reasoning of the Yahoos. Swift presents the horses as the most evolved race in his satire, as well as an example of the utopia seen in his travels.
Along the same lines, but in a more holistic sense, the 2009 documentary “The Horse Boy” details the spiritual journey of a father who wants his autistic son to be able to communicate and thus live a better life in the future. Watching the miraculous effect that horseback riding has on his son, he plans a trip to Mongolia, where shamans are known for their healing powers and for their mystical bond with domesticated reindeer. Miraculously, as the child touches a horse or any animal, his entire body and spirit start changing.
In a more transgressive sense, contemporary art has placed the figure of the horse in contexts where shock prevails. In 1999, in the hallway of an exhibition at the National Gallery of British Art in Tate, Maurizio Cattelan’s work consisted of an installation of a dissected racehorse suspended on the wall, with the intention of causing loneliness and despair, though that was not the only thing it caused. The work of British artist Damien Hirst’s “Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent in everything”, in 1996, featured a fragmented cow within a formaldehyde window case intending to confront the viewer with a vision of grotesque death. The work inspired the striped horse in the surreal scene from the film “The Cell” (2000) by director Tarsem Singh.
One of the greatest films on the subject of bestiality, sexual initiation, and sexual repression, and which also hints at homosexual metaphor is “Equus”. The play was adapted to film in 1977, masterfully directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Richard Burton and Peter Firth. As well, screenwriter and author of the original play, Peter Shaffer, was integral to the success of the film. “Equus”, like “Zoo”, tells the story of a criminal case involving a naked teenage boy who blinds six horses in a stable. He is then treated by a psychiatrist who aims to determine whether this was a premeditated action or an act of madness. The film can both be considered a thriller about the circumstances that led the boy to commit the crime, but also a reflection on how the psychiatrist is affected by the case, for which he brings deep insight into the concepts of normality and freedom to live without social ties, subjects that have never abandoned him.
Both films have a strange fascination with horses, delving into the subjects of intimacy, primitivism, and the act of ritual. Implicitly, these films present horses as symbols of unorthodox desires. Far away from city life, these incidents take place out in the country, where they can be more easily hidden. The biggest difference between the two films is that one is fiction and the other is based on actual events. The figure of the horse is adapted according to the human behavior, where it can be an object of divinity and worship, or it can manifest itself as a mysterious and strange imbalance of the human psyche.
The great achievements of “Zoo” include the director’s poetic way of narrating the facts and the superior visual content which speaks for itself, as it is difficult to explain in words how these make this film a masterpiece. It remains a sensitive issue, however, that even if you want to humanize the situation and have some compassion for those affected, the documentary subject is about transgressed inter-species relationships and it will likely be difficult for the viewer not to take a position, given this context.