Film Review: SQUEAL (2022) DIR. AIK KARAPETIAN
Kevin Janssens in Aik Karapetian's SQUEAL
Written by Belle McIntyre
The beautiful cinematography, classical music and plummy British voice over of the narrator who is weaving the story lends it a fairy tale feeling right from the start. Essential, in this case, since we are seeing the world from the point of view of a pig who is gleefully escaping captivity from his pig farm somewhere in the eastern European countryside. The pig, endowed with a thought process, as expressed by the narrator, anticipates that whatever unknown dangers await in the outside world, it is preferable to the boredom and tedium of life on the farm. Kirke (Laura Silina), the pig farmer’s daughter is bereft about the loss of the pig, partially because of the inevitable wrath of her cruel and boorish father and the fact that the pigs are their livelihood.
Meanwhile, in a car not so far away, is the handsome Samuel (Kevin Janssens) on a quest to find his father, whom he has never met, in a country he has never heard of, and speaks a language he does not understand. Sounds like a lost cause or maybe a dark fable. When these two adventurers meet on a collision course and form a sort of bond, it leads them to Kirke and disappointment for the pig who is returned to his tedious piggy life. For Samuel, Kirke shows him kindness, offers him food and a bed and seems to understand him in spite of the language barrier. Alas, nothing is as it appears to be and when Kirke’s father sees this buff young man, he sees slave laborer at his mercy.
Kevin Janssens and the magical pig in Aik Karapetian's SQUEAL
Pretty soon Samuel is in chains sleeping in the pigsty, eating pig gruel and being whipped and beaten between performing hard labor. Kirke shows him some small kindnesses but she is also entrapped. There is a supporting cast of stereotypical Dickensian characters, redneck, sexist suspicious farmers, a moronic pathetic son who is secretly smitten with Kirke, who might be the only available female in this backwoods countryside. His father and uncles deride him mercilessly and routinely humiliate him. Mostly, they are an ignorant unsavory lot.
After Samuel escapes with the help of the pig and they have quite an adventure together before Samuel is drawn back to Kirke and has a chance to be a hero to her aging father. He finds himself welcomed and embraced by father and daughter and succumbs to the comforts of family life. But the pig still has some clout with Samuel and reminds him of his quest for freedom. Which relationship will prevail is something that I will not reveal. All I will say is that the journey is full of nasty scenes of petty human cruelty but interspersed with fanciful and charming moments. It is well-paced and fully engaging. The pig, who never is named, is quite an adorable character.
Laura Siliņa in Aik Karapetian's SQUEAL
