Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

oOoBarracuda Benny's Video, the 1992 feature from director Michael Haneke, was the second installment in what many have called Haneke's Glaciation Trilogy. His feature debut, The Seventh Continent, Benny's Video, and the wordy 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance make up this "Glaciation Trilogy". The trilogy examines the postmodern world and the alienation and isolation of individuals within it. Benny's Video shows a maladjusted 14-year-old boy whose bedroom looks more like a television studio with cameras scattered about catching every possible angle both inside of his room and out. Benny has fully retreated into the screens that surround him, succumbing to the violent images he watches on repeat. Unable to connect or relate to those in the real world, Benny has manufactured a microcosm of his own he can retreat to. The problem is, eventually, Benny's fabricated existence does not prove fulfilling enough for him, and he decides he needs to bring in an outsider. Forever mysticised by a video of a slaughtered pig, Benny gets the idea to replicate the video on a human being. He seems engrossed by the idea of acting out the violence he spends his days watching and even more interested in the idea of dominating a living person. When he acts out this fantasy on an unsuspecting girl his age, the audience is left shocked by his parent's decision to cover-up Benny's crime, leaving us to wonder how isolated the entire family is from the world in which they live.Michael Haneke makes a frank commentary through Benny's Video about the constant media reporting of violent images and how such reporting leaves the audience desensitized to those images. This desensitization is just as much an issue today as it was 25 years ago when Haneke made his film. We hear about death in all of its explicit detail every day, but once the story is old news, it's on to the next in the endless cycle. Just one month ago in Las Vegas, a man opened fire on a crowd injuring 546 people, killing 58 before turning the gun on himself. Two weeks after the shooting, news outlets were filled with other stories, moved on from the devastation of that evening and covering the next story. Haneke was judicious to see that a 24-hour news cycle brought with it an oversaturation of violence leaving people unable to empathize with those they see through a screen, as they are constantly replaced by the next barrage of victims.In addition to the assessment on violent imagery, Benny's Video also delivers a heavy critique of the economic system, as well. Just as in his debut feature, Haneke criticizes money and the value placed upon it as he shows Benny, who obviously belongs to a wealthy family, and the flippant way he spends whatever money he comes into. Money is just as dispensable as the people in Benny's life, and he proves that by spending freely and rarely engaging in a meaningful way with the people that he fills his time with. In The Seventh Continent, Haneke exposes how much money we spend simply buying the necessities we need in order to live, conversely, in Benny's Video, Haneke reveals how we waste money on things we don't need in order to fill the time in our days. It is clear Haneke is still thinking about the meaningless of existence when it is so confined to the structure of society's expectations. The impossibility of living right in an unjust world is a theme continuously explored in Haneke's films. The impact of the economic system and its hold on morality is constantly scrutinized by Haneke.Alienation, isolation, and disconnect are also thoroughly explored throughout Benny's Video. Benny, even by the tender age of fourteen, had already alienated himself from society so much he struggled with meaningful connections when he was around people, a rare event in his life. The question remains, based on the lives of the adults Haneke presents, was Benny an outcast in his society based on his penchant for violent behavior, or had his immaturity simply prevented him from exhibiting such behavior in a more socially acceptable way? Haneke doesn't provide the answers, but by asking the question, he once again forces his audience into a much-needed self-examination. Benny spent most of his life isolated from other human beings. When he was home, he was alone and only viewed the world through the screens he surrounded himself with. When Benny was at school, he largely kept to himself and withdrew from most social interactions. The one friend he does spend a bit of time with, he simply exchanges the expected social niceties, always keeping himself from divulging anything too personal with the boy. Not only does Haneke explore open disconnect among people, but he also reveals how disconnected we are even when we appear to be connected. There is a moment where Benny is seen making plans with a school friend moments after committing murder. He doesn't let on that anything is remiss, exposing the fraud that Benny's social interactions actually are. Haneke, again, subverts the usually communal mealtime. Benny spends most of his time alone at his house while his parents spend most of their time at work. Benny's meals are set aside for him so he can microwave them after school. There exists no familial bonding over meals in Benny's family, revealing, in yet another way, that even the moments typically reserved for human connection can further produce isolation. Seeing the life of the adults in Benny's Video, cold and isolated, one is left to wonder how to thrive in such a society, and if murderous rage lurks beneath the societal expectations in all of us.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "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.

prodigy_ dancer 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.

Baron Ronan Doyle 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.