Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Phuong Le

Dogwatch review – seagoing mercenaries take on pirates in homoerotic meditation

The men come off as passive figures, rather than agents of control … Dogwatch.
The men come off as passive figures, rather than agents of control … Dogwatch Photograph: Publicity image

Divided into three chapters, Gregoris Rentis’s documentary follows Yorgos, Costa and Victor, three private maritime guards at different stages of their seafaring journey. All hailing from Greece, the men are hired as part of counter-piracy security measures for shipping companies, whose boats traverse so-called High Risk Areas. The film, however, is not interested in macho heroism but rather, observed in a state of perpetual waiting, the men come off as passive figures, not agents of control.

Just recruited, Yorgos is adapting to his new unmoored reality, in which daytime drills give way to nightclub outings in the evening. Meanwhile Costa, who is at the peak of his career, seems more at ease with the transient nature of his life. Still his days are also disrupted by phone calls from loved ones, including a girlfriend who laments his absence. For the middle-aged Victor, who is in charge of training new recruits, this life is a young man’s game; he longs to transition to a more anchoring line of work that will keep him closer to his wife and son.

Operating within a masculine space, the camerawork lingers on the male form – as they take a shower or engage in practice hand-to-hand combat. It’s very much reminiscent of Claire Denis’s Beau Travail, with sensual imagery and an air of homoeroticism that subverts the militarised atmosphere. At the same time, such visual experimentation also obscures the larger sociopolitical contexts surrounding the existence of these mercenary corps; it’s apparent in the film that, while the majority of the security hires are Caucasians, the domestic staff onboard are mostly non-white workers. The thorny subjects of race and class hierarchies are here somewhat overlooked in favour of abstract imagery.

• Dogwatch is released on 9 February on True Story.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.