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Another one of Jane Campion's brilliant works, The Power of the Dog, dropped on Netflix recently, and it is the perfect tale on toxic masculinity in the West.
Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the leads, the film is set in the old West, where Phil Burbank pushes his unaccepting attitude on his brother George and his family. Things take a different turn when Phil becomes close with George's step-son Peter, only for him to end up dead.
The film takes quite a few twists and turns before concluding with Phil's death.
So, let's dissect and understand the ending of Netflix's The Power of the Dog.
Analyzing the ending of The Power of the Dog' (SPOILERS AHEAD)
As The Power of the Dog nears its end, viewers can see Phil finally accepting Peter after tormenting and bullying him. He takes him under his wing and they start to spend more time together. But this budding friendship is an issue for Rose, as she doesn't want her son to get influenced by someone like Phil; this spirals her into alcoholism.
Now that Peter is part of the ranch business, he opens up to Phil about how he found his father's dead body after he had committed suicide. Meanwhile, Phil begins to plait a lasso for Peter, but Rose secretly sells the cattle hides Phil was using to buy gloves - just to get back at him. It gets Phil to continue working but Peter manages to produce a hide from a dead cattle for Phil to use.
As The Power of the Dog progresses, Phil starts opening up to Peter about how close he was with his own late mentor, Bronco Henry, who he still looks up to. While working on the fence with Peter, Phil cuts his hand. Then, he tells the latter about the shadows on the mountainside that appear like a snarling dog. Since only a few people tend to notice something like that, this impresses Phil.
At night, Peter and Phil work together on the lasso, and the latter recalls an occasion when he and Henry huddled together for warmth in the freezing cold. In response to this, Peter asks him if they were naked. However, Phil didn't respond to Peter's question.
The next morning, Phil is not seen at breakfast, which prompts George to check on him, only for him to see Phil sick with his wounded hand infected.
Phil insists on handing the finished lasso to Peter but is taken to the hospital where he dies. George buries his brother and hosts a funeral, where the doctor confirms anthrax poisoning as the reason behind Phil's death. While anthrax is something that is handled at the ranch, George is aware of how careful his brother was with it.
Back home, Peter reads the bible verse Psalm 22:20: "Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog." He is then seen with a complete lasso and wearing gloves. He looks at his now sober mother in a happy embrace with George, which makes him smile. This, in turn, implies that Peter is the one who poisoned and killed Phil, in order to help his distressed mother.
Earlier in The Power of the Dog, Peter had been caught by Lola dissecting a dead rabbit and studying diseases. His peculiar yet morbit interest in medical studies implies that he was well equipped to subtly murder Phil. Peter's cold-hearted approach to dissection also tells viewers that he has the makings of a killer.
The Power of the Dog is now available to stream on Netflix.
