The Power Of The Dog Ending EXPLAINED

so the power of the dog has just released on netflix and for a film that relies so heavily on subtlety and implied meanings it's no wonder that the ending has left many viewers with plenty of unanswered questions about what it is that they've just watched so in this video we're going to take a deeper look at the plot of the movie to try and fully explain the ending of the power of the dog so for anybody that hasn't seen it yet the power of the dog is a 2021 western drama from jane campion starring benedict cumberbatch kirsten dunst jesse plemmons and cody smith mcphee as for the plot the story is set in montana during the early 20th century and follows phil a sadistic ranch owner whose whole world is turned upside down when his brother george marries a local inn owner called rose as such phil becomes obsessed with breaking up their relationship by driving rose mad for a prolonged campaign of psychological abuse which is subtle enough that only her son peter can see it this prompts peter to go on the offensive against phil just as subtly while surprising secrets from phil's past come to light that might well explain his abusive tendencies and provide peter with a way to sabotage him and save his mother now that's very much an abridged version of the plot and fails to capture the tension and dread throughout the film which it's been so widely praised so if you're planning on watching the power of the dog now would be the time to save this video for later and go watch the movie because in order to fully understand the ending we now have to take a deeper spoiler-filled look at the events leading up to the final act so the power of the dogs starts in 1925 montana when two wealthy ranch owners called phil and george meet a widowed in owner during a cattle drive not long after the kind-hearted and lonely george falls in love with rose unlike loudmouth phil who even as an adult is still very much influenced by his dead toxic mentor bronco henry and as such quite tellingly mocks rose's son peter for his effeminate manner despite this george and rose soon marry and rose uses george's money to send her son to college to study medicine and surgery before moving into the burbank ranch house unsurprisingly phil is horrified by this believing that rose has taken advantage of his brother because of his wealth which in reality there's very little suggestion of even so phil becomes increasingly hostile towards rose subjecting her to increasing amounts of subtle psychological abuse meanwhile george organizes a dinner party with his parents and the governor so they can meet rose and hiro play their new piano even though phil has prevented her from practicing as such when the knight arrives rose is very reluctant to play citing her lack of ability but is pressured to perform by george and their guests ultimately though she is unable to play more than a few notes and is further humiliated when phil enters and publicly belittles her this proves to be the moment that breaks rose who is so traumatized that she turns to drink something that she was previously opposed to therefore by the time that peter comes to stay at the ranch for the summer break his mother has become an alcoholic which she hides from george meanwhile phil and his men continue to taunt peter for his effeminate manner forcing him to hide away in his room and bury his head in his work of dissecting animals and studying diseases establishing peter as somewhat of an expert in both not long after this peter is out in the wilderness when he comes upon a glade and finds a stash of magazines depicting nude men which look to have belonged to bronco henry following this peter accidentally spots phil in a pond bathing with a handkerchief that belonged to bronco henry this allows peter to put two and two together concerning phil's past but not before he's chased away by a furious phil who is forced to take much more notice of peter from this point forward purely out of self-preservation consequently phil suddenly begins to treat peter much more kindly offering to plat him a lasso from rawhide and teach him how to ride a horse which appears to be nothing more than further mind games and a new way to intimidate rose or at least at first until peter spots a shadow in the shape of a dog on a nearby mountain which is something that seemingly only phil and bronco henry could see causing phil to consider whether he and peter might share a similar connection to him and his light mental but at this stage it's unclear whether peter has any suspicions about phil's feelings however during a solo ride he comes across a cow carcass and cuts into its hide with a scalpel which whether knowingly or not forms the first step of a larger plan to bring phil down following this peter and phil go out on a job to repair fences where they corner and kill a rabbit causing phil to get an open wound on his hand peter notices this but despite his medical background says nothing choosing instead to take his bonding with phil to a whole new level by telling phil personal details about how his father died meanwhile back at the ranch rose is frantic about how much time her son is spending with phil as such upon learning about phil's policy of burning any hides that he doesn't need for himself rose defiantly sells them all to a local indigenous trader for a pair of gloves which at the time seems like a random desperate bid to lash out at phil but ultimately proves to be a crucial component in his eventual demise the reason for this is that phil now has no hides left to finish peter's lasso which appears to be a very meaningful exercise for phil given that it was something that he used to do with bronco henry and now wishes to do the same with peter as if he genuinely wants a similar relationship to form between them as such peter gives phil a taste of his own medicine by identifying this emotional vulnerability and taking advantage of it manipulating his trust by suggesting that they use the hide that peter cut from the sick cow knowing full well that it could infect phil via his untreated hand wound despite this phil agrees and they spend the night in the barn finishing the lasso while phil fully opens up to peter by telling him a story about how bronco henry saved his life in the mountains by combining their body heat during freezing weather however he remains quiet when peter asks if they were unclothed this is important as it's all but a confirmation that phil and bronco's relationship was not just platonic and due to his young age paints fill as a potential victim of abuse and it's not the last time that phil finds himself a victim either unable to show up for breakfast the next morning as george finds him sick and bad with his hand wound heavily infected even so a delirious phil looks for peter to give him the finished lasso clearly emotionally invested in peter at this point but george takes phil away to the hospital before he can ever give it to him in the next scene george is seen picking out a coffin while phil's body is getting prepared for burial at his funeral a doctor tells george that phil most likely died from anthrax puzzling george as phil was always careful to avoid diseased cattle having not gone to the funeral peter reads a bible verse from the burial service that reads deliver my soul from the sword my darling from the power of the dog he then puts his finished lasso under his bed with gloved hands and watches george and are now sober rose embrace smiling implying that peter intentionally plotted to kill phil at this point some might question the intricacies of the assassination plot given the seemingly random nature of key components such as the hand injury and the selling of the hides however the things we do know for a fact that peter wanted phil gone to save his mother peter had more than enough evidence to know the true nature of phil's relationship with bronco and peter knew from his studies how to weaponize anthrax so realistically taken together at face value this does explain how peter was able to kill phil however the exact details and timeline of the plot have most likely been left ambiguous on purpose so that we as the audience can debate over how all the remaining pieces fit together as for the bible quote and what that might mean in the context of this ending there are likely many possible theories that can be derived from it but the most likely one appears to be that peter picked it out in an ironic sense given that it quite accurately and poetically sums up his assassination plot from phil's perspective so the meaning would read more like spare me me being phil from death by anthrax seduction with the prayer being directed towards his darling which is probably bronco given the deity-like role he's held in phil's life with the power of the dog likely being a renouncement of peter the underdog in many ways or more specifically his gaslighting the act of shaping another person's reality around lies for their own ends i.e faking a bond that wasn't really there or pretending there is some deeper meaning to a shadow on the mountains or even re-contextualizing a cold night in which a mentor took advantage of a younger person in their care now in many ways despite his abusive behavior towards rose this interpretation would paint phil as the victim of the film at the hands of both bronco and peter which is something that cumberbatch said was very much the aim in terms of his performance as such given this admission and the points we've already covered it would seem that at its core the power of the dog is a cautionary tale about gaslighting demonstrating the devastating and long-lasting damage it can cause to victims of it and the power it affords to those who sink low enough to resort to using such manipulation now this is by no means a definitive explanation to the power of the dog but rather an informed interpretation so if you totally disagree or have a completely different take on the movie then i can assure you that it's just as valid as this one so i'd love to hear your thoughts on the movie below otherwise please do consider liking subscribing and shooting the bell for notifications for all the very latest from just westerns

Channel: Just Westerns

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Id: EWeeSS-WmIc

Length: 9min 26sec (566 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 01 2021