The Burning Snail

Running time: 82 mins

Ever wonder why young boys go wrong and wind up committing crimes? It happens every day of course but we only see the final results, not the inexorable process that changes them from innocents to criminals. This is a clinical, sometimes painful, picture of such a conversion. 14-year-old Peter is looking for the love and attention which his young, attractive mother cannot or will not give him. At school he wants to belong to a group of tough kids trying to outdo each other in cruelty and brazenness. Led by the sadistic Axel, they bully Peter and demand one nasty act after another of him in order for him to be accepted. Repelled by these actions, he is nevertheless willing to carry them out to receive the group's approval. At home, Peter is sullen and resents the visits of his mother's boyfriend. His alienation leads Peter to one final act of brutality from which there is no return or redemption. With his first feature, Thomas Stiller analyzes, with keen perception, the results of society's separatism and coldness. Where one may consider Peter's dilemma as an individual problem, the shadow of a modern industrial society and the lack of emotional contact and love makes us wonder whether or not the problem begins within the walls of home. --Ed Soohoo