This article contains spoilers for The Power of the Dog.Jane Campion’sThe Power of the Doghas made a dominant showing at nearly every awards ceremony since its late-2021 release. On top of its 12 Academy Award nominations,The Power of the Dogearned 7 BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. At the 2022 Golden Globe ceremony,The Power of the Dogwon 3 of those 7 awards, including Best Motion Picture in the Drama category.
Netflixcurrently houses the award-winning film that stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirsten Dunst, and Jesse Plemons.The Power of the Dog’snarrative derives from Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel of the same name. The story of theNetflixadapted film is relatively simple to follow but its ending leaves the motives behind one of its biggest twists open for interpretation.
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The Power of the Doghas many subplots in motion, but one of the film’s focal developments is theanimosity between Phil Burbank (Cumberbatch)and Rose (Dunst). By the end ofThe Power of the Dog, Phil dies from what the doctor believes is anthrax. Phil’s brother, George (Plemons) is baffled by this news, telling the doctor that Phil had always been wary of sick cattle. The film’s final scene features Peter (Smit-McPhee) handling the lasso Phil made him with care, before gazing out the window at his mother and step-father. He turns to face the camera with a small smile on his face.
Peter’s smile is whatraises questions about the true natureof Phil’s death. After getting off to a rocky start, Peter and Phil began to form a relationship during Peter’s summer break at the Burbank ranch. At first, Phil and his men continue to embarrass Peter, resulting in the young boy locking himself in his room to dissect animals and work on his medical studies. Eventually, Phil offers to teach Peter how to ride a horse and begins to make Peter a lasso from rawhide. Throughout this mentorship, Phil and Peter both share long harbored secrets with one another, seemingly strengthening their bond.
At the start ofThe Power of the Dog, Phil and George first meet Peter and Rose on a cattle drive. While George takes kindly to Rose, Peter, and their hospitality, Phil instigates a number of problems. One of the biggest ones arises once he examines the paper flowers that decorate the table. After Peter confesses to having made the flowers, Phil not only mocks him because of that but because of his lisp. This not only starts Phil’s tense relationship with Rose but a rather rocky relationship with Peter as well.
Peter and Phil’s sudden close relationshipdrives Rose to drink excessively, putting some strain on her relationship with Peter. It’s worth noting that Peter and Phil’s relationship only begins to change after Peter catches Phil in a compromising position in the pond, and discovers a stash of male magazines. As Phil discloses his apparent relationship with his mentor, Bronco Henry to Peter, Phil seems to find himself fulfilling a similar mentorship with Peter. After realizing how their closeness impacts Rose, Phil grows closer to the young boy, helping him acclimate himself as a member of a prestigious ranch-owning family.
On one of his rides, Petercomes across a dead cow. He begins to take the animal’s hide and brings it back to the ranch. After Rose gives Phil’s hides to the Native American traders who are passing through, Phil grows irate, knowing that Rose has done it out of spite. Phil’s plans were to burn the hides that he didn’t need and while they were given to the Natives who will have a better use for them, Phil refuses to acknowledge this. Peter offers Phil the hide from the cow he’d skinned, concealing that the animal was dead when he found it. Earlier in the film, Phil had previously injured his hand while working on a fence, where he cut it. Once he began tohandle the hide from the dead cowto finish Peter’s lasso, he likely contracted anthrax through his open wound in the process.
Peter’s smile and knowledge of his mother’s deteriorating health because of Phil are motives that point to Phil’s death being intentional by Peter’s hands. Peter’s father was a doctor, and he is studying medicine in college himself. He is seen dissecting a rabbit in the ranch house in the film, meaning Peter had knowledge of what anthrax was, how to contract it, and what would happen to the person that did. His understanding of theday-to-day processions of ranch lifemay have been scarce, but Peter understood medicine and animals.
The implication by the end ofThe Power of the Dogis that Peter knowingly killed Phil to protect his mother. Having lost his father in such a traumatic fashion, Peter has become very close with his mother. Knowing that Phil’s presence was driving her to drink to a point where she was damaging her health, Peter felt he had to do something to save her. Theonly way to guarantee her recoverywas to eliminate what was causing her pain. As Peter places the lasso under his bed, he wears gloves. By doing so, it’s clear that Peter is well aware of the role the lasso played in Phil’s death and by extension, the role he had in it.
The Power of the Dogis now streaming on Netflix.
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