Benedict Cumberbatch’s Cruel Rancher Rules This Slow-Burning Western

Benedict Cumberbatch plays a man who believes his own cruelty is strength. That’s the engine of The Power of the Dog, Jane Campion’s 2021 film about a Montana rancher who wages a war of intimidation on his brother’s new wife and her teen son, until long-hidden secrets come to light.

Set in 1925, the film follows Phil Burbank, a rancher whose cold contempt for everyone around him is both his weapon and his weakness. When his brother George marries Rose Gordon, a widow and inn owner, Phil makes it clear he considers her beneath him. He belittles her teenage son Peter, calling him weak and effeminate, and treats both of them with a disdain that slowly destroys the household.

Campion directs from her own screenplay, adapted from Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel. The film premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2021, where Campion won the Silver Lion for Best Direction. It had a limited theatrical release in November 2021, and was released to stream worldwide on Netflix on 1 December 2021.

Trailer, via Netflix.

Phil Burbank’s World

Phil is the center of the story, and Cumberbatch gives him a performance that never lets you forget why he’s dangerous. His contempt is not just cruel; it’s calculating. He uses it to keep people at a distance, to maintain control over a world he’s built entirely around his own image. When he offers to plait Peter a lasso from rawhide, the gesture is meant to humiliate as much as to charm. It’s a moment of terrible grace, and Cumberbatch plays it with a precision that makes the horror land.

Kodi Smit-McPhee plays Peter, the boy who must survive this man’s attention. His performance is quiet and steady, carrying a weight that could easily sink a lesser actor. Kirsten Dunst rounds out the trio as Rose, a woman pushed to drink by Phil’s constant humiliation. Jesse Plemons plays George, the brother who loves Rose but can’t protect her from Phil.

Secrets in the Glade

The film’s most potent scenes happen away from the house, in a glade where Phil’s secret life is exposed. There he masturbates with a delicate scarf belonging to his late mentor, Bronco Henry, and later chases Peter away when he discovers a stash of Bronco Henry’s homoerotic magazines. These moments are not just titillation; they’re the key to understanding Phil’s character. His contempt is a mask for fear, and his cruelty is a way of hiding what he truly is.

The film also shows Peter’s own struggle. He dissects a rabbit in his room, puts on rubber surgeon’s gloves to cut off a piece of a dead cow’s hide, and rides into the hills with Phil. These are acts of defiance, small and quiet, but they carry the weight of a boy trying to find his own power.

A Cinematic Masterpiece

The film is shot in rural areas in New Zealand’s Otago Region, giving the landscape a vast, empty quality that suits its themes. The cinematography is precise, the score is moody, and the four leads deliver performances that critics singled out. The film’s 127-minute runtime moves slowly, but the pacing suits a story about patience and endurance.

The Oscars and Beyond

The film earned 12 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Cumberbatch, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress nods for Plemons and Dunst. Campion won Best Director, making the film the first to win only in that category since The Graduate (1967). Its 11 losses tied the record for most in Oscars history, until it was surpassed by Sinners.

Our Verdict

The Power of the Dog is a difficult watch, but a necessary one. It doesn’t flinch from its subject, and it trusts the audience to sit with the discomfort. Cumberbatch’s performance is the anchor of the film, and Smit-McPhee’s Peter is its moral center. The film is a masterclass in slow-burn tension, and it rewards patience with a payoff that feels earned.

Benedict Cumberbatch · Jane Campion · movie review · Netflix · Oscar winner