MovieChat Forums > Snowtown (2011) Discussion > The opening dream monologue...

The opening dream monologue...

posted 10 years ago by snts6678
5 replies | jump to latest

Perhaps I've missed this topic posted elsewhere, but I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone bring this up yet.

I'm talking about the opening of the film. You basically have the point of view from a moving vehicle as you watch the landscape pass by. Jamie is recounting a dream he apparently has had repeatedly. The dream involves a man with a slit throat seated in a chair as Jamie watches. Inside the man's throat sits a dog, and it is "yapping." The yapping won't stop...

I'm not sure I fully understand the significance of this dream and what it really means. Yet, between the cinematography of the scene along with the soundtrack and cadence of Jamie's telling of the dream, I found it to be mesmerizing. Right then, from the opening, I knew I was dealing in something very unsettling...perhaps that was the whole point.

Any thoughts?

[–] The_Sedgwicks_Daughter 10 years ago

I gathered it was a dream Jamie started having once John came into his life...and the dream didn't stop after that, perhaps acting as a homage to Jamie's subconscious mind of all that was going on.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jeffpy 10 years ago

My take on it: The dead man in the hallway represents John. He is someone who acts tough, but on the inside is a scared chihuahua. Maybe the man is dead to show that John has lost all signs of humanity. The dog won't stop yapping just like John won't stop barking commands at Jamie. I really don't know, all of that could be wrong. That's just my take.

[–] kentar-131-352769 10 years ago

The "chihuahua in the throat" bit is actually taken straight from John Bunting himself.

When he was captured and finally imprisoned, Bunting bragged to authorities that he had often dreamed of having his own personal human abattoir. In one corner of the abattoir, he joked, he would sit a corpse in a chair, slit its throat and stick a chihuahua inside, so it could peek out through the slit.

John thought this was hilarious.

Just a bit of trivia for you.

[–] kayla-halsey 8 years ago

Well, that's horrifying.