The Pet (2006)

This a very unusual perspective on a serious human issue, trafficking. I think it takes the subject matter seriously enough as it doesn't paint a rosey picture. However, the main topic of the movie is the girl's (not victim) willingness to comply. The movie has atmosphere, an intriguing story and is well filmed. The acting is surprisingly good and it is well directed. I can't see why it has been rated so low!

I just finished watching this movie, just because I found it on some site listed as one of the "Top ten best B.D.S.M. movies" but I regret watching it. I now realize how few movies have actually been made about the alternate lifestyle that even this shitty excuse for a movie had to be listed as one of the 10 best and this realization makes me sad. The review I am writing is from the viewpoint of a person who has been involved in the alternate lifestyle for more than 2 years and I will not be commenting about the human trafficking aspect of the movie as I do not possess adequate knowledge about human trafficking and slave trade.**** Spoilers ahead ******************The problems I had with the movie are following: 1. A person does not get a slave just because his dog died. That's insulting because that is comparing a human being and an animal. 2. A master/Dominant does not "play fetch" with his slave. She is not a dog, you idiot!!!!!!!!!!!3. The reason that the female lead starts serving her master/Dom seems as though she is doing it for money and this lifestyle is not something that you can do for money. There needs to be a lot more emotional connection and a lot more clarity of consensus between the sub- dom/master-slave for it to be classified as an alternate lifestyle or B.D.S.M., which was obviously missing between the leads, which I don't know if I should blame on bad acting or bad writing. But if emotion and consensus are lacking in such relationships, then it simply isn't BDSM. It's slavery/abuse/prostitution/human rights violation, which is not B.D.S.M.3. The most important thing that is W-R-O-N-G with this movie is- A master/dominant takes care of his slave/sub. So a thoughtful master would never ever let his partner eat just a handful of food from his hand and drink just a few sips of water a day after making his partner work and run and crawl all day. A good master/Dom would never let his partner be naked in a snowy place no matter what because that's dangerous to the slave/sub's health. A good master/Dom would not let his slave sleep in such a small cage every night after making her crawl all day, since at least at night the slave/sub would need to straighten her legs or it might be damaging to her knees and health. All this is not alternate lifestyle. It is torture and ignorance on the master/Dom's part. This is very very wrong and portrays the lifestyle as something it isn't. B.D.S.M. is not torture!!!!!Having said all this, the really bad acting and the non existent script are not the worst aspects of the movie, but the whole idea behind the movie is. The makers should have done their homework before making this extended porn movie. W-A-I-T!! Calling this porn is an insult to porn because this "video" ain't even arousing to say the least. I gave it 2 stars, 1- for "only trying" to make something about human trafficking 2- for the female actresses who had to go naked all through the video. Even if they are paid for it, being in this kind of movie is not worth it. And Andrea Edmondson at least tried to act. Her acting is the only thing remotely bearable in the video and it's not an achievement.Comparing this movie with the likes of Secretary is also an insult to Secratary because it is like comparing a video(The Pet) with a movie (The Secretary)

The movie The Pet has an intriguing premise, but it fails in some important ways. They have a terrific young actress in Barbara Edmondson who delivers just the right amount of innocence and pluck. She was very good. Her character gets off to a good start, but unwinds as the story progresses. She just doesn't get enough to say, especially later in the movie when we most want to hear her. The end left me flat.The story was about a pet, the complications that arose were interesting, even tense at times, but we lose sight of our heroine, and the conversation lines were often too weak. I felt like the writers lost sight of what they wanted to do; some serious outside input for later scenes would have made this a great story.They could have done more with this story; they certainly had the right actress for it. I'd recommend the movie just to watch her; not for the nudity but for her interesting delivery.

I just liked the story and the acting - I watched it with some friends and we talked about it for hours -- it is a lot to bring out in the open. NO one had a consensus - it was just thoughtful -- and complex. It goes well below the surface of just entertainment.I noticed so many issues that I deal with in the world daily. Like power plays in business -- who is the bully and who is the low man at the office. My wife had issues with it at first and then she saw a scene with males slaves and she appreciated it was a non gender base issue. Slavery comes in all kinds in this movie - from the girl who window shops eventually become a secretary. Several male labor slaves are punished for trying to escape while other slaves accept their condition and are seemingly resigned to their life of servitude or as 'pets'. All in all a very disturbing movie - it gets under your skin because in the end it looks beautiful and it is easy to see how some of the 'missing' people in current news may have bonded with their captors. I did like that a love story was developed in a way that is quite difficult to imagine. I tended to really like seeing something so unique happen.A very intriguing piece of work - I do look forward to seeing something more from this director and the actors