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^{By: Amanda Guarragi}

Dummy follows a detained suspect, as he walks investigators through the scene of his loathsome crimes. Surprisingly, his law-enforcement escort makes an unnerving display of fellowship. On the surface, the film is beautifully shot and writer-director Laurynas Bareisa makes some great choices while navigating through the forest. It’s also a very interesting perspective if you really think about it. Not many filmmakers show this side of a crime scene, especially with the detained suspect. So to write a film from this perspective was definitely unique.

The issue with Dummy is that the one woman working with the team, Miglé is the only one taking notes and actually detaching herself from the story. The rest of the men listening to the detained suspect are hanging on his every word and getting to know him as a person. As if his actions of rape and murder of a woman is a minor flaw. Miglé keeps her distance and the men are constantly jabbing with poor jokes. It was hard to sit there and hear them joke around, when the rapist is just casually explaining what he did to the woman.

When they finally got to the end of the crime scene, the detained subject wanted to go for a swim and the rest of the men allowed him to. Miglé stayed on land, while the rest of the men joined him in the water. This showed that it was a boys club and that the treatment of women wasn’t important enough to hold this man accountable for his actions. It was just really jarring and unsettling. In such a short amount of time, the group dynamic is established and the treatment of Miglé is horrible. There was one moment where the rapist reenacts what he did with the dummy that was used through this journey. The men around him made jokes involving Miglé and it was incredibly disturbing.

At first, Dummy just seems like a regular investigation but as the story goes on, it becomes so much more than that. The writing from Laurynas Bareisa is incredibly strong because he doesn’t pack the dialogue. He plants certain remarks and keywords to make you realize that these men are actually horrible. The story progresses slowly but it definitely leaves you with so much to unpack. It is an entirely different perspective on how to write story showing the treatment of women.