BRUTAL TRUTH

MICHAEL HANEKE DOESN'T WANT YOU to watch his Americanized remake of his own 1997 film Funny Games if you don't like violence in movies. If you're unsure, he'd prefer you leave as soon as you reach the point of disgust. Whatever you do, don't condone the violence by watching it and then complain about what you just witnessed.

At least that's the sentiment expressed by Haneke in an interview with French film journalist Serge Toubiana. Funny Games, he says, is about the portrayal of violence in media and film, inspired by articles he read about young people from good families committing thrill crimes. He theorizes that people who watch violence in media are responsible to some degree for the savagery that spills over into reality.

Haneke felt getting that message through to Americans required more than subtitles, hence the nearly identical new version. Tim Roth and Naomi Watts play Ann and George, a mild-mannered couple spending their summer at their lakeside home with their son Georgie (Devon Gearhart). Soon after their arrival, they are visited by Peter (Brady Corbet), a teenager they saw earlier apparently visiting the neighbors. Peter asks to borrow some eggs, which he drops, then asks for some more, which he drops again.

This time he comes back with bigger, older Paul (Michael Pitt), who becomes demanding and petulant, then finally violent after George walks in the house. Peter and Paul proceed to merrily torture and brutalize the family for the duration of the film, with no apparent motivation but complete sociopathic confidence. Haneke relies on unflinching static shots, although most of the violence is offscreen. His focus is on reactions, humiliation, blood on the walls, sobs and cries of pain. It's a realism meant to demonstrate how people who enjoy such movies are accessories to the proliferation of violence in media, and Haneke pulls it off with a master's touch.