Sources of Conflict in Dogme Films by Robbie Vacik
    Given the rule prohibiting superfluous action in Dogme95 films, tension cannot come from overtly violent encounters. Since elements in the film have to be real, murder and the like cannot be portrayed for obvious reasons. As an American viewer, this is contrary to what I am accustomed to. Growing up, my parents would help me process violent films by helping me understand that the things I was seeing were not real. Dogme95 films do the exact opposite. They do not want the viewer to find comfort in what is unreal-they want the viewer to confront what is real. Therefore graphic sex scenes and intense depictions of emotional struggle are the medium for showing extreme action. No bullets, no explosions, no epic war scenes. Only the conflicts that are born from the human experience that we all take part in. It can be disconcerting seeing people used to generate action and conflict. I think we are all so accustomed to witnessing numbing violence, but to see humans placed in situations where their suffering drives a movie is a different matter that I was not accustomed to. I am not talking about Saw suffering. I'm talking about an abusive father and incest (Julien Donkey Boy). Or a man who is trying to expose his molestation at his father's hands amidst a scene of bourgeoise revelry (Feston). These are the types of things that Western audiences are accustomed to seeing. Robots rampaging through a city are easier to stomach than raw human emotion born out of damaged relationships. I believe Dogme95 tries to lay bare this truth, and build films around it that restore that focus on what we can really know.