Zoo (2007)

Human sexuality in one of its many, many forms…

Zoophilia comes from two Greek words; zoo meaning animal and philia, friendship or love. It is referred to as the practice of sexual between a human and a non-human animal. Popularly it’s called bestiality. People who practice zoophilia are known as zoophiles, zoosexuals or just “zoos”.

Zoo tells the story of what is now known as “The Enumclaw horse sex case”. July 2^nd 2005 Kenneth Pinyan died of a perforated colon as result of receiving anal sex from a horse. In the movie he is only referred to as Mr. Hands, which was his name when distributing videos of different encounters with horses. Zoo addresses that Pinyan’s name was meant to be kept secret, but of course a swift search on the internet following the movie, his real name came up immediately.

The participants in Zoo want to keep their anonymity given the subject matter, so director Robinson Devor tells the story by having different people related to the case narrate over reenactments. It makes the film flow better than if he had chosen to show blacked-out faces for the duration. The cinematography and lighting help to create an at times artful looking documentary. Paul Matthew Moore’s moody score gives Zoo a more humane feel to it. Devor’s many tricks to downplay the sensationalism, unlike the media, is an intelligent choice. The subject matter is highly controversial, so by not giving into sensationalism, we are better able to look at it without our guards up. It gives the “zoos” narrating a chance to talk about how they perceive this. “The sexual aspect was only a minor part of it”, says one of the “zoos”. They treat their animals right other than in that one area, which they don’t feel is wrong. Is this damaging to the animals? Are these people really monsters? Zoo left me longing for more insight into these minds, but what we are granted is highly interesting.

I was really surprised by how tasteful the subject was handled. Zoo paints a more sympathetic picture of zoophiles. That may also cause some discomfort. You could dismiss them as “horsefuckers” and such because it makes it easier to keep at a distance, but it won’t give you more room for understanding. An animal rescuer that came to pick up the horse after the incident says; “I don’t quite yet know how I feel about [zoophilia], but I’m on the verge of understanding.”

Devor deserves praise for having guts to make a documentary on this subject and even more so for make it as non-exploitative as this. Ignoring zoophilia will not make it go away, so I for one am glad someone sheds light on this subject.

7.5/10