Retinend This documentary about the death of a group of zoophiles whose club disbanded with the death of a Boeing engineer, "Mr. Hands," illustrates phone interviews with the perpetrators with dreamy imagery of dew- sprayed orchards, rolling mid-western highways and slow motion panoramas of farmstead porches. The film makes no judgement of the men, who were not found guilty of any crime due to the niceties of state-specific lawmaking. The love of horses is portrayed as a mystical, philosophical longing to connect with nature. A dissenting voice, an investigator who first visited the scene of the non-crime, gives her reaction of horror and sympathy for the animals, but her case is not strongly made, since the sordid details are left out of the film. By so emphasizing the mystical-philosophic- longing-nature side of things, the film seems unnaturally sanitized and the elephant in the room looms large throughout (probably with its back to the wall): Watch the infamous video and you see a man with a manifold metal-studded ballsack eagerly prostrating himself in front of a member the size of a man's extended arm. The horse's penis is guided into Mr. Hands by a second man who asks "yeah, you like that, don't you?" in a lascivious tone, to the man soon to die. In the film, Mr. Hands is portrayed as a family man who had a bright future... I find it more convincing that he had a strong drive towards death, and that at least his sexual being was pleased to die in this way.My negative opinion of this film is not so much about its filmic aspects, but of its morality. Sure, the film does not explicitly endorse what these people did. However, I find the film perverse in its avoidance of simple questions that spring to most peoples' minds: what did they do with the horses? what sexual history did these men have? how did they get started? Typical of over-intellectualized analyses, these simple questions are discarded in favour of equivocation and obfuscation of the moral matter.Outside of these general questions, specific questions posed by the interviews themselves are unanswered or obfuscated by a chronology that seemed to have been cut up and stuck back together at random for a shallow intellectual effect. Who is "Cop #2" and what film was he hired for? Who was the boy who died? Who did the horses belong to? How can two horses give and receive a blowjob? Were they trained to do it? I'm barely scratching the surface because so little of the historical information hinted at is given it's proper providence, and so falls easily out of memory.As its fundamental moral angle and narrative loose ends are so dissatisfying for me, that stylish visual elements and overall technical quality is abundant was more irritating than it was palliative, for me. I wondered even more, on account of this, why such a film could even be made by intelligent, resourceful and skilled filmmakers, without thought for what they were implicitly advocating. Still, for the quality and style alone it is a convincing package, but is the lush surface texture an indication of its profundity? A loud "neigh" from me.

trlrprkgrl The subject matter of this documentary is an answer to a question I've been mulling over for quite awhile. "How old has THIS old Hippie gotten to be?" You understand, don't you? When I was a teen, in the 70's, I thought of my parents as "Old fashioned to the point of stupidity". I wondered "when would I become my parents"? With this film I know "that time has arrived" because do not have ANY sympathy or empathy with these perverts and don't understand the schadenfreude who DO empathize and show it with their "Several Star" ratings. I DO NOT agree that "Great cinematography" or "Great Music" or anything else makes this "Voyeurs Dream film" any more palatable to people who have any sense of propriety. THIS old hippie wonders "when will a Serious, Documentary film about "NAMBLA" be produced?" Don't say NEVER my friends. Had you asked me in the 1970's, "will a SERIOUS, non-pornography, documentary film, about having sex with a horse, ever be produced?" My answer (after laughing to the point of pain) would have been "HELL NO!!!!" "ARE YOU @%&*%$ STUPID?????"

vom666 I am not easily disturbed but here's something that's pretty goshdarn transgressive. A very taboo subject handled in a very artistic way cinematically. Not a simple story as the wags in the message boards here can't wrap their small minds around but a look into the psychology of someone who would go to these extremes as well as the societal stigma attached to beastiality and the effect on their loved ones...I would bet the aim of the filmmaker would be to creep out the "norms" cos it definitely made me feel bad. And any body that doesn't admit that this is extremely well made and suspenseful isn't worth listening to because they do not know what they're talking about..IT is very unsettling much like a horror film and not just because of the events but also because of things like pacing and building of moods and themes. Very effective.Personally, I find sex with animals revolting and awful to watch. It makes me ill but I think every weak minded stooge who cannot overcome stigma should be forced to view things like this...

nnnoooiiissseee If you read the reviews of this "movie" from the highly respected "critics" you may be shocked (to say the least) to see the word "beautiful" in nearly every one. It gets extremely high marks for demonstrating that "love is blind" and that "you can't help who you fall in love with".It does a great job of "humanizing" animal rapists (sorry) "extreme horse enthusiasts" in a way that you will not only relate to them, but probably even want to drink a beer with them. You may even want to take Mr. Ed or My Friend Flicka out for a spin afterwards. You know, with the "good 'ol boys"."Zoo" shows how society "bullies" them and how badly they are discriminated against for their love of raping animals. They are basically just "tortured souls" who are "misunderstood". Mister Hands really DID feel "love" for his horse (especially when he was really, REALLY drunk). I'm not kidding. Not at all...When "Mr. Hands" dies due to his colon being popped like a cheap water balloon by a 4 foot long horse wiener, many people are saddened at the great "loss" to the world. "Mr. Hands" was the kind of guy you could pound beers (and other stuff) with and he was "nice". Sure, he was a horse rapist but nobody is perfect... right? In other words, the film depicts him and his animal raping friends as completely normal, good people who just happen to rape animals as a hobby. Who are you to judge!? "Zoo", along with the rave reviews that it received, gave me the last, sold, concrete pieces of evidence that I needed to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that most bleeding hearts have completely lost their minds. It is the best known example of how some people can take "tolerance" way, WAY to far. To the point where they use the term "tolerance" as an excuse for, I dunno, RAPING HORSES.This film also gave me a firm grasp on just how feeble minded most people are. If a group of animal rapists get together to make a propaganda piece about how "you shouldn't judge them", and RUBES ACTUALLY GO FOR IT, that means that you can MAKE A FILM THAT WILL JUSTIFY ANYTHING.So what was the REAL lesson being taught to us in this "movie"? The sad, disturbing, horrifying and completely haunting thing about this "movie" is that I can already see where this is all going... With movies like "Zoo" and "heroes" like Michael Jackson and Pete Townsend "humanized"... to god-like proportions, It doesn't take a genius to figure it out.I can already see it happening within my lifetime and it makes me want to vomit my guts out just thinking about it. Living in a world where your are forced to "tolerate" their "alternative lifestyle". A world where every T.V. show and movie has a blatant "public service message" inserted in the middle that urges you to "respect the feelings" of child and animal rapists and that their behavior is "perfectly normal".A few decades ago, a movie like "Zoo" would have been completely inconceivable. Just imagine what you and your kids will be witnessing in a few more decades? God, I hope that I don't live long enough to witness it...