SQUEAL: A Review Of Aik Karapetian’s Dark Fairy Tale

Aik Karapetian’s dark fairy tale feature, Squeal, is as elegantly layered as it is disturbing. With a sophisticated touch, the film explores heavy concepts about personal freedom, identity, and happiness. As a genre-bender, the story is arguably a survival horror softened with elements of fantasy. Poetic, visually stunning, and surprisingly pleasant, considering the subject matter, Squeal is an enjoyable tale.

Synopsis

The film, originally released as Samuel’s Travels, centers on a young man, Samuel. A foreigner on a quest in rural Latvia, he is seeking his estranged father. He is a generic everyman who seems to be struggling with a mild existential crisis, although this is not explored in the film. As he drives deeper into farm country, he hits and injures a runaway piglet. Taking pity on the injured animal, he packs it into his back seat and goes in search of help. As Samuel grows desperate for help, he encounters a local farmgirl, Kirke. She invites him into her home and he stays the night in her farmhouse.

Upon waking, Samuel is captured by Kirke’s father, Gustavs a pig farmer, and another local, Jancuks. Samuel is stripped, tied up, and forced to live as a slave. As such, he is put in charge of looking after the pigs and is chained by the neck in the pigsty.

As a slave, Samuel encounters several unsavory characters as well as ordinary rural folks. All of them seem incredibly nonchalant about the heavy chain around his neck and have no problem speaking of him as livestock. The longer Samuel stays on the farm, tending to the pigs in chains, the more he comes to accept his new role.

More Than Stockholm Syndrome

In Squeal, the scenes of Samuel’s capture and his initial torture are disturbing and also extremely painful to watch. His world becomes instantly hostile and unfair. And yet, he doesn’t maintain this perspective for long.

The movie explores Samuel’s eventual submission with elements of fantasy, including a helpful talking piglet, a dangerous forest, and a man who can turn into a dog.  A subtle BDSM love story that begins to form. And after several attempts to escape, Samuel eventually comes around to embracing his life on the farm, mostly due to an infatuation with Kirke.

In this way, the film questions the merits of freedom versus the weight of domestic commitment. If Samuel finds beauty, meaning, and love while working with heavy chains, then is it really that bad of a thing? What is the importance of independence if there is safety and comfort in a predetermined, unescapable track? Squeal pokes at these questions while serving up a lovely visual feast.

Artistic Merit

While Squeal uses violent plot devices and upsetting situations, the story is presented like a children’s fable. The music is classic and fanciful. Composer Justine Bourgeus adds classical baroque songs to her own composition and creates a splendid soundtrack.

The cinematography is stunning. There are scenes, particularly featuring pigs, that feel like they are jumping out of a Brothers Grimms’ book. This brilliantly serves to lull the audience into submission just like the main character.  We are more accepting and less defiant of his surrendered freedom when each scene is dripping with a magical quality.

Despite how whimsical the atmosphere, the story is told with sophistication. Much is effectively transmitted in Squeal through symbolism and allegory. The effect is a wonderfully rich subtext interwoven throughout the story.

Cast

Kevin Janssens does a fantastic job as Samuel. He is wonderfully expressive with very little dialogue. Janssens gives an impressive physical performance filled with intention and emotion. While as a physical specimen, he is strong and fit, he is no match for the dominant nature of his captures. All this is projected through his performance, much of which the actor is nude.

Laura Silina is good as the strong and sensual Kirke, Samuel’s captor and eventual love interest. Aigars Vilims is solid as the gruff Gustavs. Both of them broke no quarter in their leadership of their new ward and this comes through in their work as actors without fail.

Normunds Griestins gives an excellent performance as Jancuks. Jancuks is a tormented soul, jealous of Kirke’s interest in Samuel. He is another slave, one who is treated like a dog and as such can project himself as one. His owners are villainous pig buyers that do business with Kirke’s father, Gustavs.  He is used as a goon by his nefarious masters, Marks (Juris Barkevics) and Vilhelms (Guntis Pilsums). Jancuks, Marks, and Vilhelms are villains you love to hate. Jancuks is particularly effective, being both pitiful and thoroughly unlikeable. His is a fitting opposing element to Samuel’s journey.

In Conclusion

Set in the gorgeous backdrop of rural Latvia and accentuated by lovely camera work, Squeal is a dark story that is strangely endearing. It tumbles through the merits of freedom and slavery, all the while entertaining the viewer with a joyful celebration of visual decadence. It’s a fairy tale fit only for adults despite the adorable piglets that trot about the screen.

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