Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: The Scene

Media Credit: THINKfilm Zoo bounces around the subject of a man and his sexual feelings for a horse.

Welcome to the promiscuous and once secret world of one of the world's most confounding relationships between a man and a horse, revealed in this controversial independent documentary film titled Zoo by director Robinson Devor and Seattle's The Stranger columnist Charles Mudede.

This film is not officially rated but should be rated R for some language, nudity, and strongly implied bestiality.

This controversial film is about a look into the seemingly normal life of a family man from Enumclaw, Seattle, whose secret sexual appetites led to his shocking unusual death.

One of his unusual fetishes, shall we say, is his voluntarily having sex with a horse by being penetrated by one. This man's nickname was Mr. Hands and was played by upcoming actor John Paulsen.

This movie is also told through Mr. Hands' friends who helped and engaged in these sexual acts as well.

This film was originally titled In the Forest There Is Every Kind of Bird, but was released under the title Zoo instead. It is short for zoophile, which is defined as a person with unusually strong fondness, attraction or romantic interest in animals.

The idea of a zoophile is clearly displayed here, especially through the commentary of Mr. Hands' friends.

Surprisingly, this film has received awards from film festivals.

At the Sundance Film Festival, it was chosen as one of the 16 out of 856 documentaries submitted to be screened. For the Cannes Film Festival, Zoo was in the top five that was showcased at the Directors Fortnight sidebar of this year.

There is actually great cinematography demonstrated in this documentary, which really brings out the feel of the small city of Enumclaw, as well as displaying the incomprehensible sexual secrets that are hidden within it.

Actors played their roles astonishingly, considering the people they are portraying.

It is especially true in the case of Paulsen, who must step inside the shoes of Mr. Hands. At one point, he must appear to be satisfied while walking a horse out into a field naked with an overly content face.

Also, as a side note, the events in this film were factual and made history by giving reason to pass a law in the state of Washington that outlaws bestiality and the recording of it because unfortunately there were none in the state be forehand.

Although the subject matter of the film would have you believing that this documentary is very graphic, shockingly it is done very well and is much more about everything around the sex acts rather than the sex.

This movie will indefinitely surprise you, but it will, at the same time, leave you intrigued about how someone, or better yet, how a whole group of people could commit these acts and try to justify them.

As controversial as this movie is, it is an amazingly well-made documentary.

Zoo was released in selected theaters on April 25. It is now released on DVD.

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