Benny's Video (1992) User Reviews

Offbeat, dark and gritty film from Michael Haneke

[The_Void · 7/10 · 23 August 2006]

Michael Haneke is a filmmaker that isn't afraid to go all out to shock his viewer. My only previous experience with the director was his later film 'Funny Games', which I enjoyed immensely for its pitch black humour and willingness to go that extra mile to ensure that the film shocks as it should. While I didn't enjoy Benny's Video as much as Funny Games on the whole, it is an overall more shocking film due to the youth of its main character and the matter-of-fact way that the story is presented. Michael Haneke affords his film a gritty atmosphere through cheap-looking film stock and constant cuts with material shot on a video camera. The film focuses on a young man named Benny. Benny has an obsession with violent horror, and his favourite tape appears to be footage of a pig being slaughtered. He takes it upon himself to steal the slaughter gun, and when his parents leave him at home unsupervised; he invites a young girl into his house. It's not long before the slaughter gun is being put to use again, and the murder of the girl is caught on Benny's video camera.

On the one hand, this is a dark and gritty portrayal of a situation that no one would want to be in, and at its strong points; Benny's Video is an emotionally involving and even tormenting film. However, it would seem that the director wasn't really sure about where exactly to take it, and has unfortunately seen fit to pad the film out with drawn out and not entirely relevant sequences, which ultimately brings it down. All the main characters are well presented and believable, and the film benefits from a strong cast of actors that manage to get into their characters well. The best scene in the movie sees Benny's parents discussing what they do, and if the entire movie was as good as that scene; Haneke would have had a masterpiece on his hands. Michael Haneke's direction is very 'no frills', as while he uses tricks such as cutting the film with video camera footage, it's all done very calmly...which ultimately benefits the film, as the sober atmosphere really allows the audience to be dragged in. Overall, as mentioned; the film isn't as easy to get on with as the later 'Funny Games', but Benny's Video will no doubt appeal to those who enjoy dark and challenging films.

An icy look at an act of meaningless violence

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 16 April 2012]

The central idea of Benny's Video is whether people in western society have become so desensitised to images of violence in film and the media that they become capable of committing acts of murder themselves. It asks is the culture in the developed world such, that we are losing touch with the reality of violence. In this film a teenage boy from a privileged background kills a girl 'to see what it's like'. On discovering the crime, his parents automatically decide to cover it up. They are emotionless and discuss the problem in terms of a logic puzzle; at no point do they ever even mention the murdered girl or her family. With this in mind, it's obvious that Benny's Video is also about the banality of evil; the way that acts of horror are often committed by frighteningly calm and seemingly unremarkable people. The film emphasises this theme by having an underplayed aesthetic. The act of murder is depicted in a way as far removed from typical film violence as is possible. It's caught on video but framed such that we see virtually nothing, instead it is conveyed by sound instead of image. The thump of the bolt gun and the girl's screams are what indicate to us what is going on. It's actually quite disconcerting to have it depicted this way and in some respects it's more horrific as its clumsiness feels more authentic. Its approach is so unusual it throws you off guard somewhat making the whole thing that bit more effective.

It's a cold film. Michael Haneke has made it intentionally such as a counterbalance to the way reality is depicted in the media in general where artificial joviality is widespread. It does have to be said though that the coldness fits in with the theme of the film, it's about emotionally stunted people after all. It feels like a film that has become maybe even more relevant today too. Benny lives in an enclosed world of technology where he watches violent films and news feeds; it feels he was living a life that many others now do in the internet age. So from this point-of-view it still carries a lot of relevance and seems quite prophetic. Not that I personally think that the viewing of violent films makes a person violent themselves, I think the seed is in an individual irrespective of this but perhaps even Haneke thinks this too, as its quite obvious that Benny's parents are capable of repulsive acts while devoid of emotion. They are not so far removed from Benny, his impulses seem genetic.

This is a disturbing film but not a particularly graphic one. Although viewers should be alerted to the opening scene of a pig being killed which is not a sequence for the squeamish at all. But overall this is a film that is about the effect of violent films, as opposed to actually being one itself. It's thought-provoking but not really entertainment as such.

Should it be rated as a movie or as a Michael Haneke work?

[GrumpyDwarf · 8/10 · 6 March 2004]

If it is supposed to be a Haneke film, it does have a couple of pitfalls. It is not Haneke's best, perhaps because maybe he felt the pressure to top Der Siebente Kontinent. As someone said previously, it is rather heavyweight towards the end.

As a film without regarding who directed it, it is very good. It provides you with a raw documentary vision of a boy and his voyeuristic trend towards violence. It is rather simple yet, an amazing idea. Benny could be the boy living next door and, in fact, he is. He is not frightning on a "I know what you did last Summer" fashion. He is _truly_ frightning because he is a normal kid. And I do know a few like him. The ones I know never actually murdered anyone but, perhaps they simply didn't do it because they are afraid. Benny hasn't come to terms with that moral feeling yet and perhaps he never will.

On a metaphorical sense, it is the best portrait (along with Der Siebente Kontinent) of present day Austria, at least the Austria I see at some September rainy Vienna weekends...

Your hair will stand on end..

[dbdumonteil · 15 June 2003]

Caution! Caution! Michael Haneke 's "Benny 's video" is one of the most terrifying movies ever made. The link between it and "der Siebente Kontinent" is obvious:the latter ends with an empty TV screen. The 1992 effort is another way of tackling total destruction. Resuming a subject which a lot of directors have already broached -incommunicability between a teenager and his folks-,Haneke pushes it to its absolute limits :particularly if you do not know Haneke at all,you will not believe your eyes.

SPOILERS In this work,there's before and after. So harsh is Haneke's screenplay ,so incredibly devoid of humanity are his characters that the viewer is left panting for breath. Benny films a lot a things ,his bedroom is full of TV screens -we could draw a parallel between "Benny" and the "Peeping Tom" s hero,whose apartment was full of screens as well;and although the latter was an English movie,the male lead,Karl Boehm ,was Austrian too. But Haneke 's got his own way to hoe ,so he does not stop here and goes where nobody dares.

After murdering a girl (a senseless crime),Benny seems almost indifferent. By chance,the parents watch the horrible thing that happened on the video:a close shot of Angela Winkler shows her distraught face and her moist eyes. Then expect the unexpected:the parents want to conceal everything and to pick up the pieces as if nothing has occurred. The movie does not lose steam towards the end ,as an user claims:the trip to Egypt ,with its trite and amateurish -Benny's camera?- sequences,the mother enjoying an ice cream or relaxing at the swimming-pool or these exotic landscapes, just highlights the bourgeoisie's selfishness ,pushing people out of their way,in a way only Bunuel dared.

A legend (or is it Stephan Zweig?)tells that Vienna is ,par excellence , the capital of the blues and they say suicide rate is higher there than anywhere in Europa. At any rate,Austria has found a director who ,like Ozon in France,Dardenne in Belgium or Amenabar in Spain is making the most modern inventive European cinema.

The best from the trilogy

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 15 March 2016]

"Benny's Video" is an Austrain German-language movie from over 25 years ago written and directed by Michael Haneke. It was also Austria's official submission to the Academy Awards that year, but failed to get nominated. The cast includes Arno Frisch and Ulrich Mühe, who both appear in Haneke's even more famous "Funny Games" a couple years later. As for "Benny's Video", it is the second installment from a trilogy by Haneke, called "Glaciation". And in my opinion, it is also the best from the series. A lot of the action in this film has to do with making the wrong decisions. The parents must have made many wrong decisions about their son before the film starts already and this leads to a fatefully wrong decision by the son. In their attempts to deal with the situation, the parents make a decision that is at least morally wrong, but proves also factually wrong with the events at the end. Haneke loves to finish his films with major plot twists and this one here is no exception. Benny's decision at the end has a major impact on the future and something like this could already have been predicted when we see his father tell him he loves him, but he does not respond. I think he may have even hated him. He did not see the sacrifice their parents, especially his dad, made for him as he did not really see the wrong in what he had done. Benny is the epitome of a sociopath and his parents failed to realize that and metaphorically buried their own grave in the decisions they made and in the behavior they showed towards their son after the murder. As a whole, these 105 minutes were a pretty good watch. Strong acting by everybody involved and high-quality writing that will have you on the edge of your seat for the entire film basically. It is interesting how we see all the crucial events on video and not the way they actually happen, even if they happen at the same time. I certainly recommend "Benny's Video". A truly good watch, but not for people who are easily offended and cannot deal with violence. Everybody else should check it out.

What would you do after such a random act of senseless violence?

[OJT · 9/10 · 21 August 2014]

One of Mikael Haneke's first feature films makes a great impact on the viewer. I'm writing this after seeing this film for thew second time, 21 years after watching it in a cinema, in a film club setting. Back then we didn't know how many extraordinary films Haneke would be making later on. In that setting, I must say this showed promise of a controversial director with an important message in his films. Haneke wants to make discussions, and don't really care if he is controversial or even disgust people watching his films.

Benny is a loner of a 14 year old boy, using so much time in his own room watching violent videos as well as making his own videos with his Video8 camera. His parents are rich, but largely absent from his upbringing, but are more hands on than normal, when they are at home. During a trip to the video store Benny meets a girl of his own age, and invites her home, to show her a video h has made about a pig being shot with a slaughter gun. He shows her the gun he has stolen, and from there the story turns severe.

It's not really possible to give a review of this film without telling too much. Still there's no point in spilling the beans. The film has more than one surprise up in the sleeve, and is well suited for discussions in a group or a media class. I can assure you that the viewers will have different views on what they make of this movie. Why is Benny doing this? Is this likely or even at all realistic? Why do they do the things they do? Whta would you have done in the same situation? Who's to blame? Does it provoke you? Are we watching a sociopath in the making? Why did Haneke make this film?

As always in Haneke's films, the actors are brilliant in their play, though it's easy to criticize the ideas if you don't like them. Arno Frisch is brilliantly portraying young Benny, as a boy who has lost his way due to some reason or another.

After viewing this film the first time, back in 1993, we had one of the greatest discussions I ever experienced after a film. We always went to a café side-by-side to the cinema after the film club showings, and this film made us having a major discussion. So I never forgot this film, and Haneke, or Austrian films for that matter. I must say this film made an immensely impact on me due to this. Watching it again so many years later, reminds me of what I really remember of the film, which is almost half. When you remember so much of it, it's no doubt a great film. Not flawless, but important as well as remarkable.

This can't be recommended to the faint hearted, nor due to the content, the violence or the moral. You'll better stay away if you are easily disgusted or offended.

Benny's View is a Dangerous One...

[tim-764-291856 · 7/10 · 3 April 2012]

The world though Benny's video camera is a disjointed, skewed and dangerous one. Played back through his VCR, along with the countless video nasties he seems to be able to rent without his age (14) being questioned from his local video rental store, that distortion is multiplied indefinitely.

At times, this film is repulsive and sickening, as we start with a pig that the family want to slaughter for meat is filmed having a bolt shot through its head. "It's only a pig", Benny says, as he rewinds, again and again and repeats the animal's death and subsequent squirming in slo-mo.

His parents are involved in the travel business and go away whilst Benny stays at home with all his high-tech gizmos, all that his parents had bought for him, presumably to make him happy. Getting a girl into this ivory tower of his, he plays her the pig vid and then shows the instrument used on the animal that he had stolen for a souvenir. In a game of dare, she gets shot with it and this is where it all goes horribly strange and ugly. Most folks - all folks, actually - would phone for an ambulance. He doesn't, he re-loads it with bolts and does so again and again. We see a TV with this being filmed, with only the periphery showing. He then films himself streaking her blood on his naked body.

I hope that this hasn't spoiled things too much but the main thrust of the film is the aftermath of all this. Parents come home, Benny gets a skinhead haircut and then replays the vids of the "accident" over and again, just when the parents are going past the open door of his room.

What we make of Haneke's matter of fact portrayal of the parents colluding to and discussing what to do with her body is one of open debate. Their emotionless disdain for what has happened appals, and so it should. Benny and his mother then go on holiday to the Red Sea, where Benny films everything.

The films pans out to its end matter-of-factly with the family going off to bury the girl's body and Haneke makes a bold and sweeping statement simply by having us watching them through the bank of monitors that show what all the surveillance cameras dotted about the house show.

Though Benny's Video was made exactly 20 years ago, it still is as important and pertinent now as it was then. Uncompromising and powerful, if largely unlikeable.

I watched this as part of the Michael Haneke 10 DVD anthology.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

[merva_somer · 10/10 · 5 March 2004]

In order to escape the complete alienation from his wealthy family,14 year-old Benny finds an emotional substitute in the world of video.Anything recorded on videotape is inherently better and more real than what he can see with his naked eyes.Barely noticed by his professional parents,he spends most of his time either viewing wild and violent films or looking at the view outside his bedroom window through his video camera.Gradually,without the people around him noticing,his values and his sense of reality begin to change.One weekend,on a whim,he invites a girl of about his age over.His parents have gone to the country and he has the house himself.What begins as innocent,young love soon turns into a tragedy.He first let the young girl watch a home video he made of a pig being butchered.To show her how a slaughter-house pistol works he wounds her badly.When she screams,he kills her in front of his relentless video camera lens...In the second part of his trilogy,Haneke analyses the terror brought about by human,coldness and the normal morality of a bourgeois family,with his unique chilling,almost clinical cinematic approach.

Review

[tonysx · 7/10 · 14 September 2008]

Michael Haneke's Benny's Video is a film with a lot to say. It's a commentary on the media, desensitizing youth, and the parental structure. That's quite a lot to swallow in one movie but Haneke attempts it with a raw experience of violence and absurdity. No main character in this film really acts in any way that can be construed of as normal. The film is about a young boy named Benny who has an obsession with videos and violence. From the first shot it's obvious that this boy isn't wrapped to tight. He watches a video that he shot of a pig being slaughtered with a bolt pistol. He rewinds the tape and watches it again in slow motion with fascination. Benny throughout the film continues to watch this video along with news clips of war and violent movies. He video tapes almost everything and even uses the camera to look out the window of his room. This symbolizes how Benny views the world through a camera and the television. He is not in touch with reality and Haneke makes that very evident. The film progresses as Benny meets a young girl at the video store and takes her to his home while his parents are away. He's not trying to get lucky however. Instead Benny takes this as an opportunity to use the bolt pistol that he stole after he filmed the pig slaughter to kill the young girl. This is a long brutal scene that is viewed almost entirely through Benny's video camera. Even though all the violence is off screen it's hard to watch. This is the strongest sequence in the film. It's in fact the only part of the movie where a character is empathetic. That's the young girl by the way not Benny. Benny continues his weekend by going to a club with friends, taking in a movie and getting a new buzz cut. Oh and then he cleans up the dead body in his bedroom. When his parents return he shows them the video of the murder and than a very long and unemotional conversation ensues between the parents deciding what to do with Benny and the corpse. They decide the best course of action is for his mother to take Benny on a vacation to Egypt while his father Georg stays at home and chops up the body to cover it up. Sounds like a plan. Everything seems fine when Benny and his mom return. Georg asks Benny why he did it and then things go back to the good old days back before the family included a homicidal teenager. The film than concludes with Benny at the police station assumedly turning in his parents for the murder. What a special young boy Benny is. This film tries to comment on dehumanization and the effects of the media. It is unrelenting in addressing these issues, maybe a little too much. When Benny's parents find out that he just killed a young girl they are not as much concerned with why there son is so screwed up but how they are going to clean up the mess he has caused. He is taken on vacation and never once reprimanded for the little crime he committed. They never address to him what happened or even take away his camera and television. Kids get in more trouble for not taking out the garbage. They choose to cover for him and he ultimately betrays them with the same amount of remorse he had when he murdered a young girl. These characters are flat and unrelateable. That's Haneke's style. Just like in "Funny Games" he is not concerned with connecting with the audience but with insulting the conventions of modern media and he does that well.

Very disturbing, in a non graphic way.

[floyd-27 · 8/10 · 10 September 1999]

I found this movie to be very disturbing, though it is not a violent movie. Benny is a normal teenager, except for his rather horrid taste for gore and death. This is a very thought provoking movie stumbling through a couple of different immoral issues, the end of this movie was a bit different to what I was expecting and did sort of knock me off place. I give it an 8 out of 10.

Benny

[M0n0_bogdan · 7/10 · 5 February 2024]

It's all about shock value. Haneke's intro for this one is to desensitize you for the rest. What happened with the teenagers is nothing compared to what we see first because the first one is real (and we know it's real), what happened with the teenagers is fake and off-camera.

The discussion happens from this point. Why aren't we more shocked? Why is Benny so insensitive to what he did? It's because of his hobby. He doesn't see it as real, it's all from his camera point of view, like everything he saw before. It's just digital or analog information put on screen. He sees himself as a viewer and a camera at the same time. He is dehumanized, he is a machine, that gun was part of him as well. And like all Haneke, it's shocking.

Another Strong Entry From Michael Haneke...

[EVOL666 · 8/10 · 8 June 2006]

Anyone that's seen any of Haneke's work knows that he typically leans towards confrontational and controversial subject matter, and BENNY'S VIDEO is no different. This film seems to strike people differently and on many different levels, as much of Haneke's work does. I must say, that it is not quite what I was expecting based on what I had read about it, and can honestly say I was slightly disappointed as I was expecting an extremely dark and nihilistic film (and that's not quite what I got...) - but it is still a good film that will be of interest to those that "enjoy" more thought provoking and "dark" cinema...

Benny is a relatively average teenager, except for his penchant for watching and re-watching a homemade tape of the slaughter of a pig. He seems to be a relatively sociable child as he has friends that he hangs out with and doesn't seem to be particularly shy or reserved. He does rent a lot of videos and has a bunch of video equipment in his room - but this seems to be more of a serious hobby than an actual "obsession" for Benny. One day, he meets a girl around the same age outside the video store and invites her over to his family's apartment. His mother and father are out of town, so Benny hangs out with her, makes her some food, and shows her his pig-slaughter tape. When an "accident" in the apartment (which is inadvertently caught on Benny's video-camera)leaves the girl dead - Benny is at a loss for how to handle the situation - and decides to play the tape back for his parents to try to find a resolution to the situation. Benny's mother and father then have a discussion as to how to handle the problem, and come up with a "solution" that may turn out to either save or destroy their family...

Again, BENNY'S VIDEO didn't turn out to be quite the film that I expected it to be. From what I had read, I thought that Benny (played by the same smarmy little bastard that played Paul in Haneke's FUNNY GAMES - though a few years younger in this film) was going to be some video-obsessed, anti-social nerd and that his family would be some sort of borderline-abusive emotional automatons - but that's really not the case here. What "I" saw, was a relatively normal (if somewhat "emotionally-absent") family that were thrust into an extremely unpleasant, yet believable situation. I think that the conversation that Benny's mother and father had after being made aware of the death of the girl held a lot of "truth" as to what lengths people will go to to protect themselves and their family, and Haneke's film shows one family's path in protecting themselves. I won't say that I necessarily agree or disagree with the decision that Benny's parents made - but I can understand them "covering" for him as much as I could understand if they had turned him in.

Technically, the film is good on all ends - the acting is all believable and strong, and the cinematography is appropriately "cold" and somewhat voyeuristic (as is necessary given the subject-matter). My main gripe was with Benny's "change of heart" at the end - I feel personally that the film would have been stronger had the family just gotten on with their lives as though nothing happened. I feel this would have been even more "chilling", but apparently Haneke thought differently. Like FUNNY GAMES, I didn't find BENNY'S VIDEO particularly "disturbing" like many others apparently do - I found it to be a strong portrayal of cause-and-effect, actions-and-consequences, and a "case-study" of one family dealing with an "unfixable" situation. Personally, I found FUNNY GAMES to revel more in it's "mean-spiritedness", where as BENNY'S VIDEO was a much more "realistic" film. I can say that I'm a relative fan of Haneke's work - but I guess I just don't find his films as "shocking" and "disturbing" as others do - I find them to be well crafted stories that delve into the "darker" side of life...8/10

A very disturbing film...

[MovieGuy01 · 7/10 · 15 October 2009]

I thought that Bennys Video was quite a disturbed film, and violent at times. In Bennys Video 14-year old Benny (Arno Frisch) spends his days at school around with his school mates, visiting the video arcade, and watching scenes recorded by his video camera on the television monitor in his room. Bennys Mother (Angela Winkler) seems to only be available to fill the fridge with microwaveable food, Bennys parents spend much time away leaving Benny on his own which the young boy fills with watching a documentary film he made of a pig being slaughtered beginning with being shot in the head with a butchers gun. One afternoon Benny meets a young girl (Ingrid Stassner) in front of a video store and invites her home where they have pizza, and milk and watch videos. Benny shows the girl the butchers gun that he stole when he made the video of the pig slaughter. This is quite a violent film directed by Michael Haneke

Benny's Video

[FKDZ · 5/10 · 28 May 2023]

Benny's Video is a slow methodical drama circling around the psyche of character decisions made through the movie. It has a strong start, and one that puts you into it right away with some disturbing footage. But then after 30 minutes or so it becomes a uneventful, both in events and character. Leading to a very slow end.

Directing is static, impactful and methodical. It's not afraid to sway from the norm, long takes that last forever. Enabling the viewer to be sucked in in certain moments. That is when it works, but there's also long lasting scenes on simply a TV. Now the I get it, the violence shown in the news and movie is supposed to be interesting and the 'story'' behind the actions. But it's dull and repeated too often. That said the directing in general managed to mostly keep me engaged and curious.

Sadly that curiosity is not rewarded. As a story it fits the notion of ''art house'' film, without a proper message to end with. But with a message as a whole. Perhaps back then it was more relevant, surely. But it makes for a weaker film now.

Acting is a standout, great work from all involved. Music, non existent. Sound design, maybe I'm weird but the eating and subtle sounds made this movie more uncomfortable than the disturbing stuff. Or maybe it was a mix of both. Just odd.

Decent but not as effective as I'd hoped.

Negativeland

[spoilsbury_toast_girl · 22 November 2007]

In his second film of the "glaciation trilogy", Haneke once more hauntingly draws a torpid affluent society where the people live at cross purposes, where conservations are rare and toilsome, where communication is alienated to a technical process. Accordingly to that, the emotional life of the protagonists became stunted: Benny, after his "act", shows concernment only through surrogate actions, just like letting his hair cropped. The father immediately slyly pushes to damage mitigation, whereas only the mother indicates rudiments of emotion, though somehow tense. In a confusing blend of film and video images, Haneke creates a second level of reality, so to speak, where Benny's senseless "act" perfectly integrates in the horror pictures of the evening news and makes it open for question. At the same time, Haneke commits himself to no specific answer and denies any absolution. That is what makes this film so horrifying - there simply is no telling argument that makes a murderer out of a young boy.

Thoughts

[MandarinBurger · 7/10 · 30 October 2021]

The first scene summarizes the film perfectly; we see the video tape of a pig being slain. It is then rewinded, and slowed down, making us sit through it again.

It set the mood for me, and in a strange way, tickles my curiosity. It's not my first Haneke Film, thus I knew what I was going into.

I really enjoyed the "Mise en Abime" aspect of the film, as to say: it show violence on TV which de-sensibilities Benny. Realising then that I, too, am watching violence on screen, which, after each Haneke film, could bring me nearer to the state of Benny.

A nasty family portrait

[drownsoda90 · 8/10 · 16 December 2023]

"Benny's Video" focuses on a maladjusted teenager who is obsessed with technology, particularly video recording and television. He is largely ignored by his upper-class parents who feed his obsession by arming him with the latest and greatest technology, until mom and dad are forced to confront a shocking act of violence he commits.

For anyone who knows Michael Haneke's filmography even on a tertiary level, they will be aware of his bleak depictions of society and frank, unembellished representations of human depravity. This earlier work from the director has his trademarks all over it, and is bolstered by strong performances from Arno Frisch as the disturbed Benny, with Angela Winkler and Ulrich Mühe giving disturbing and calculated performances as his emotionally detached parents.

While the film gets off to a rather startling beginning, some will find the midsection and conclusion to be a bit slow; although they may be correct in pointing out slight pacing issues, the latter part of the film allows the character dynamics between parent and child (and parent and parent) to be expanded upon, and what is perhaps most shocking about it is that the audience grows to develop some sympathy for Benny despite his sociopathy; his parents, less so. There is also a notable contemplation of technology and its function in society that underpins the screenplay.

All in all, "Benny's Video" is an effective, disturbing film that speaks more to the brokenness of the family unit than it does of the malignant outcomes that may arise from it. Certainly not for the lighthearted, but it offers a drab and uncompromising window into the dark. 8/10.

Immensely relevant film-making

[oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx · 9/10 · 25 September 2008]

Benny, an Austrian teenager likes to sit in his darkened room and watch videos. Not only that but he prefers total saturation, when he's not watching TV, it's always on in the background, along with heavy metal. Benny has two expressions, absorption, and the nonchalant mask he puts on to manipulate people. It appears his favourite video is one he took himself of a pig being slaughtered during a family holiday. When the pig gets it with the airgun po-faced Benny rewinds.

It was an unnerving film for me to watch simply because there was I in a darkened room watching a TV screen surrounded by bookshelf after bookshelf of videos, watching Benny in exactly the same surroundings. Furthermore Benny was pretty much the same age as I was back in 1992. I even had nostalgia for the packaging at the local MacDonalds, nine chicken McNuggets in a box with woven print! Haneke takes forensic shots of these fast food items, just like his static shots of the father taking apart the telephone in The Seventh Continent.

Benny it seems is often left alone on the weekends, lord knows what I would have got up to if I'd been left at home with a few bills from mum and dad's wallet! (I knew a boy at school who was in that situation and ended up becoming the school drug dealer). Benny likes getting videos from the local video store a lot, this also was my teenage preoccupation. The more violent and crazy the better! We're left in no doubt as to his character, at choir practice all the angelic boys sing full-throated and yet are passing notes and pills behind their backs in a relay. Superbly subversive shooting!

Benny has got bored with anything other than video and even has a very creepy setup where he draws blackout blinds on all the living room windows, the image from outside is then relayed through a video camera peeping out, to a television set just in front of the window! Here we have the heart of voyeurism, one-way engagement.

It's clear things are not going to go well, as we are in the world of Michael Haneke, and in a humour-free universe. Benny lures a young girl home from the video store where he proceeds to video her death at his hands. He uses the airgun from his favourite porcine video. He seems initially perturbed after the murder, but we also see him stop to have a glass of milk, and also in the evening he arranges to go out partying and to copy his friend's homework.

World cinema lovers will be pleased to see Ulrich Muhe (recently from The Lives of Others) as the father. At length, Benny has to tell his parents what he has done as the girl's corpse has been in a cupboard in their flat for two days. It's at this point where we see how purblind the parents are. The living room is decorated in yet more image saturation, Magritte, Warhol, Liechtenstein, Botticelli, all collaged into a morass of vacant imagery and valuelessness. The father's initial thoughts include the impact of the murder on Benny's CV. Truly this piece of paper represents the sum of one's existence in this warped universe! The parent's decide to cover the murder up, and Benny and his mother go for a holiday in the middle east.

The part in the middle east is very pretty, we see all sorts of shots of marketplaces, ancient mud-built houses, hieroglyphics, monuments. It's clear though that this is again yet more vacant image saturation, however beautiful, the hieroglyphics meaningless to Benny and his mother who look on in their culturally imperialistic parade around Egpyt, Tunisia and beyond. Another reviewer has pointed to the remorseless contemptibility of this exercise, however I think that both Benny and his mother were experiencing remorse (ie. Benny has his head shaved, the mother cries on her hotel bed), in however constipated a manner.

Benny almost inexplicably decides on his return home to Austria to shop his parents to the police, having recorded their post-discovery conversation. Is this Haneke signalling just desserts, indicating that if you breed vipers they will eat you? Is Benny manipulatively shopping his parents in the hope of clemency, or has he genuinely had a pang of conscience and proffered his parents to justice? At the end we are left with some ambivalences but also a clear indication of the importance of parenting, and the toxicity of image: 24/7 news flow of Balkan conflict, RoboCop, advertising and modern art serves to gloopify the brain! A slight pity that Haneke went down the Funny Games dead ends after this, with only Cache as a return to form. This film urges one to self-examine, and is therefore, priceless.

10/10

Benny's Video: Shocking, Horrifying, and Utterly Compelling

[imagiking · 9/10 · 29 March 2010]

The second film from the Austrian auteur Michael Haneke, Benny's Video is another look at the director's vision of our modern world and the societal problems he sees as rife within it.

Benny's Video shows us a short period in the life of the eponymous character. Obsessed with visual images and that which he captures on camera, Benny's eye is caught by a girl he sees at his local video shop. He invites her to his house one day while his parents are away, and shows her his favourite video: a pig being slaughtered on his uncle's farm. What follows is Haneke's take on the accustomisation of mankind to horrendous violence and the true capability of human cruelty.

In many ways, not least of all Haneke's direct statement, Benny's Video acts as a spiritual successor to the earlier Der Siebente Kontinent, tackling much of the same thematic material and issues of morality. Like its predecessor, it highlights its director's message in a shocking, horrifying, and utterly compelling manner. Benny is the typical teenage boy, revelling in the thrill of violence and bloodshed. His terrifying calmness around such terrible things as well as his peaceful perversity create an enigmatic character, but a realistic one. As with Der Siebente Kontinent, the placing of the camera is key to this film, the occurrence of the main event slightly out of view an extremely important element. The film's momentum lies in the performance of Arno Frisch, who manages to perfectly portray the icy Benny with a calculated complexity. Strong support comes from Angela Winkler and Ulrich Mühe as the parents, protective but no less horrified as we.

Dark, disturbing and engaging, in Benny's Video Haneke again shows us the flaws of our species, effectively having us question what we never thought to before. A powerful movie, masterfully shot and terrifically acted, it really must be seen.

A film about the shocking stoicism that violence causes in some of us

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 9/10 · 2 August 2011]

Benny has everything! A wealthy family that gives him a great life, money to spend with his friends at McDonalds, more money so that he can rent the videos he wants at the videostore; everything constitutes for Benny being a good teenager, or a good person. But he also has a darker side: a strange fascination for death that seems to increase in his soul, to later be exteriorized in his body, after filming a horrific execution of a pig (showed right in the opening and repeated one more time). That image leads to his first real crime, the murder of a young girl randomly picked on the street, who is brutally murdered by him. Reason: Out of curiosity.

In "Benny's Video" director Michael Haneke argues about our hunger for violence, a hunger that seem to be everywhere, it follows us all the time and we can't deny our impression with it (that's why violent films are more popular than artistic films). It's present in the films Benny rents, on the news he watches with his parents, everywhere. Who can blame the boy? His morbid desire had to be fulfilled, he needed to know if killing someone is a unimpressive experience than the one he has while watching his films or repeatedly watching the pig's death, first in the usual speed, than in slow motion. Here's a boy who recurred to violence simply because no one was around (mother and father were traveling) and nothing could stop him at the moment. And we could say that he could go on killing more people given the fact his parents haven't turned him to the police but he saw that what he did was too much.

Played by an always impressive Arno Frisch (way before of making of us his accomplices with his disturbing and violent experiences in "Funny Games"), Benny is quite a figure and his deadly obsessions and the murder makes Macaulay Culkin's pranks in "The Good Son" something funny. In all of his amazing stoicism, the killing of a girl was acceptable but seeing what his parents did, covering up for him and getting rid of the corpse was way worst and that he couldn't tolerate (that explains the ending, in part). And the parents (played by Ulrich Mühe, ironically he would play the victim of Frisch in "Funny Games" and Angela Winkler) are even hard to imagine, not in the sense of they saying they love their son (when they don't) but this protection and their cold reaction on the fact he murdered someone (the mother even burst in laughter right after Benny's confession). Not a single emotion appears right after that, except when they travel to Egypt (while the father arranges a way to disappear with the girl's body) the mother shows some reaction by crying but even that crying seems so doubtful, we can't know for sure why she's doing that.

Haneke impresses us by showing how Benny committed the crime but without appealing to the Hollywood formula of gore, yet it is a disturbing moment. He puts a camera filming a part of the house, we can only hear what's happening in the other room, the girl screams, the sound of the gun (a captive bolt pistol, same thing used by Anton Chigurh in a more well known film) being used. It's difficult to not be shocked or feel frozen after that. More impressive than this moment only the first (and real) image of the film, already mentioned, something quite unnecessary on a film that wants to make a criticism over violence but opens this same film to the shock of many viewers. How many continued to watch after the pig's execution? If you can't deal with it, just fast forward these 40 seconds, and continue to watch the film, the discussions made by "Benny's Video" are many, all of them welcome and relevant.

I have some issues with the film in terms of its structure but I can't understand all this complain about the film being slow. It's slow paced but it's not that bad. The way Haneke used slowness at some points and in some of the three acts that was unnerving. The first act deals with the controversial and most interesting part of the film, the one in which we keep asking ourselves 'what comes next?'. The trip to Egypt was boring, it often breaks the pace of the movie, and when it's not doing this it gets worse when it seems to take us out of the movie, it seems a different film with nowhere to go and nothing to say. But when we reach the third act, back in Sweden, it comes some good surprises; then, finally leaves us with some doubts about the ending.

Brutal in its reality, shocking in its content but subtle in its presentation, this is an uncomfortable and unsettling film that doesn't exist to inspire more Benny's out there, in case some detractors might think that films like this are responsible for violence in the world. It's there to open our eyes to a wider, depressive and sad reality that could be happening close to you and you wouldn't know. 9/10

Sends a wrong message

[prodigy-25 · 4/10 · 21 July 2013]

I don't find the movie particularly interesting. There's a consensus among the viewers that Benny's actions are influenced by his lifestyle and media violence addiction. Whether this was Haneke's idea or not the message is simply wrong.

What is overlooked is that Benny is a typical psychopath. In real life it'd be much harder to make a diagnosis but for fictional characters approximations are good enough. The portrayal isn't completely accurate but many of the common signs are there: shallow affect, the total lack of empathy, conscience and remorse, insidiousness, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, casual use of violence, etc. Anyone who wants to learn more should read "Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us" by Robert D. Hare, one of the leading experts in the field.

Long story short: Benny's media preferences are the extension of his pathological personality not the other way around. Psychopaths existed long before Hollywood and their actions are not dictated by something they saw in a film somewhere.

A fundamentally flawed, disturbing film.

[kinoreview · 9 August 2012]

'Benny's Video' is a genuinely unsettling film whose premise concerns a scene that is particularly disturbing and visceral. The film concentrates on Benny, a seemingly sociopathic teenager, and his regimented, staid parents known simply as 'Mother' and 'Father'. Benny lives a materially charmed life, having an array of electronics bought for him by his affluent middle class parents. This technology allows him to indulge in his interest, or rather obsession, with videos, both watching and recording them.

The film's message is a relevant one, it suggests that the media has a detrimental, and in this case fatal, desensitising effect. However, it suggests this in a rather hyperbolic fashion. The film loses its credibility through how explicitly and rather insularly it conveys its message. In my opinion, it's clear that Benny is a warped individual with an innate lack of remorse, no film or news report can rid someone of their senses to the point of sociopathy. Benny is a contemptible person, and he's purposely constructed that way, but he isn't someone who's the product of desensitisation; his cold, empathy devoid persona is that of a genealogically tarnished mind.

Narratively speaking, the film's first hour or so engrosses you with its unpleasantness and realism. The film places the viewer in a 'what if?' situation that's somewhat reminiscent of films such as 'Deliverance', but it isn't as resonant owing to the abhorrence of the film's events, the psychopathy of Benny and the steely reserve of his parents. During the last 40 minutes of the film, there is something of a pacing problem, I felt the film lost the edge and tension it had created; this isn't a particularly pressing issue, but the film certainly felt longer than 105 minutes.

I found 'Benny's Video' to be a fundamentally flawed film; it would've worked if it had a more balanced, rational message at its core. Some lobbyists, in the haze of their ignorance and typically political agendas, would vehemently agree with this film. I am of the opinion that there is a substantial difference between watching something and doing something. Violent media can, at the very most, be a mere substitutional factor amongst many factors that could somewhat exacerbate the pace of an unhinged, unwell mind.

Finally!!!

[tbyrne4 · 10/10 · 27 May 2006]

Jeez!!!!!! For the past thirteen years it has been impossible to get anything other than a crappy VHS copy of Michael Haneke's brilliant and disturbing "Benny's Video". Finally, it is out on DVD. It sure took 'em long enough! First off, if you think you're a film buff and you have never of Michael Haneke - THINK AGAIN. The Austrian Haneke is one of the great idiosyncratic filmmakers of our times. And his "emotional glaciation" trilogy (all of it finally out on DVD - hooray!!) deserves to be seen by everyone!! Everyone!! That means you! You - reading this!! "Benny's Video" is number two in the brilliant, brilliant trilogy and centers around 14-year old Benny, a young man consumed with violent media images and video. In particular, a video of a pig being slaughtered. Benny spends his days with his shades drawn, listening to speed metal and watching violent video images. He doesn't even look outside, but has a camera set up to play a constant, live "view" of the outside world on one of his TVs.

The plot essentially takes off when Benny invites a young girl (and possible love interest) back to his parents house while they are away.

"Benny's Video" is one of the great commentaries on violence in the media and social apathy. It ranks up there with "Man Bites Dog" and "Natural Born Killers".

The last third of the film lulls a little bit, but other than that this is essential Michael Haneke. Highly recommended.

Typical Haneke.

[noahgibbobaker · 8/10 · 29 September 2020]

Over the last few days I've been thinking a lot about Benny's video. At first I wasn't sure what to think of it, did I even like it, but more so what were the overarching themes Haneke so subtly conveys.

The main themes of Benny's video are obsession, morality and regret. Benny is only 14 years old but has become so addicted to film, he has slowly become so detached from reality that he kills a young girl because he "wanted to know what it feels like", he records the murder. I've seen some people say Benny recorded it as a confession but I don't see it that way. I think that he unintentionally recorded it, he didn't plan to kill Madchen but when he was given the opportunity he took it, he just wanted to know what it feels like. He does end up using the video as a confession but that's not why he filmed it.

Benny's video is well written and technically perfect. Since Haneke started making films he has never failed to provide technical perfection. My favourite aspects of Benny's video technically are the cinematography and use of the video that Benny films. The use of long takes are great especially during the murder scene which was just masterful. The dialogue never blatantly reveals important plot points, they are shown through good visual storytelling, the audience is treated with respect.

That's all I have to say about Benny's video itself, but I noticed some interesting similarities with Haneke's previous film the seventh continent. Spoilers for the seventh continent.

First of all the seventh continent and Benny's video explore similar themes of morality when commiting murder. In the seventh continent Anna and Georg need to decide whether to kill their child along with themselves or not. In Benny's video Benny's parents need to decide what to do with Benny and the body. They come to the conclusion that Benny and his mother will go to Egypt for a week while his father stays home and cuts the body into small enough pieces to flush down the toilet. In the seventh continent they family uses "going to Australia" as a euphemism for commiting suicide. I'm sure that Benny's video and the seventh continent are not companion pieces or anything like that, I just thought these similarities are interesting.

You should watch Benny's video. it's bleak and extremely well made. If you like any of Haneke's other work you'll like Benny's video.

Typically fine and disturbing film by Michael Haneke

[tankjonah · 8/10 · 25 February 2006]

A teenage boy (Arno Frisch) who watches violent videos brings a girl back to his parent's apartment whilst they are away and films his murder of her. Michael Haneke's disturbing film suggests that violent videos may not only desensitize, but influence some to commit violent acts. Benny is ultimately a distanced boy who can't really seem to connect to anyone on a meaningful level despite his intelligence and middle-upper class upbringing with supportive parents. The moral dilemma faced by his parents after he shows them the video is powerful and grim as his father (Ulrich Muhe) logically, but somewhat coldly, weighs up the pros and cons of the dilemma. The film does lose some momentum as Benny and his mother go away for a week whilst his father disposes of the body on their farm in the country. It is probably intentional that Haneke leaves the viewer in the dark as to how Muhe is getting along, just as Benny and his mother are. The unrest and boredom that they feel as they wait for the week to be over is perfectly conveyed and instilled in the viewer. The final twist where Frisch turns in his parents after having recorded their conversation about what to do and to ultimately dispose of the body again shows Haneke's interest in subverting expectations. As usual Haneke doesn't offer any easy answers. We never quite know why Frisch committed the murder, it wasn't really premeditated and he himself can't really articulate why he did it, when he is finally asked by Muhe.