Here's the point -- all documentary films are lies. All fiction films have some truth.
"Man Bites Dog" is a Belgian student film. The director credit is shared by the film's three main on-screen characters -- the murderer, the director and the cameraman.
The concept -- Let's watch the result of a no-budget film crew documenting the exploits of a mass murderer.
In order to get the film finished, the crew become willing accomplices. The murderer starts financing the film with the proceeds from his evil deeds. Movies are expensive, so there is an NC-17's worth of violence.
It is hard to tell exactly under which genre of film "Man Bites Dog" falls. It's fiction (hopefully). Call it a mocku-mentary, or perhaps a docudrama.
The form of the film is meant to call into question the fine line between fact and fiction as manipulated by those who commit the film and video that we post-modern viewers rely on for so much of the information we inhale.
In any case, it is a great record of a culture -- our modern culture of violence.
