The first thing you need to know about
White God is that for animal lovers, it might be a bit of a tough watch. Humans are pretty horrible to dogs in this movie, and there were a few times that we looked away from the screen, even though a lot of the film's violence was more implied than actually shown. None of it is real, obviously, and to be honest, there were times when various dogs were "acting" like they had been hurt or shot, and you could tell that they were just rolling over and playing dead.
It didn't look shoddy at all, but you could just tell.
The point is, as horrific as the subject matter of this movie is, it wasn't so graphic that the average person who loves animals wont be able to watch it. It's tough, but it's manageable. Even more important, the movie's overall payoff is well-worth enduring those tougher moments for.
White God is the story of
Lili; a thirteen-year-old girl who seems to hate life, but really loves her dog,
Hagen. When her asshole
Father dumps the poor pooch on the street, rather than pay a
State Fee too keep him, she is heartbroken. Defying her
Father's wishes,
Lili begins to search for
Hagen, because she loves him, and fuck everybody else and their dog-hating asses!
 |
| "FUCK YOU, DAD." |
White God is also the story of
Hagen; a good boy who just wants to be loved, fed, and played with. When he's separated from
Lili, he frantically searches for her to no avail. Alone and discarded, he meets a variety of people out in the streets, every one of whom is a horrible piece of shit who either abuses him, forces him to fight other dogs, or trains him to be mean. Eventually becoming fed up with all of that shit,
Hagen partners up with the other ill-treated dogs of the city, and they decide to rise up and give the humans a taste of their own medicine.
 |
| NO, HE ISN'T SMILING. |
Will
Lili and
Hagen ever be reunited? If so, will
Hagen rip
Lili's face off? Is
Lily going to have to beat
Hagen to death with her trumpet to keep that from happening? Far be it from us to spoil anything for you here, but suffice it to say that a trumpet
is involved, and yes,
Lili does use it to make
Hagen her bitch. Not literally, because he's a boy dog, but you get the point.
 |
| THE FINAL FIGHT. |
White God is a striking film that is a poignant as it is disturbing. We know that there are people out there who treat animals like... well, animals, in the worst sense of the word, and this movie happily calls them to task. It also tells us "Hey asshole, they may only be dogs, but they deserve to be treated with kindness and compassion too!" It's not a preachy movie, at least not overbearingly, but it goes to great lengths to make an important point, and it does so effectively.
 |
| HOW COULD ANYONE EVER WANT TO HURT THAT FACE? |
The strength of this movie comes between the relationship between a little girl and her dog. Their story was as heartbreaking as it was warm, and we got caught up in each of their emotional struggles far more than we thought we would; we actually found ourselves verbally rooting for
Lili as the film wore on, and giving
Hagen various commands like "No!" or "Run,
Hagen!" or "Rip the fuckers throat out,
Hagen!" Yes, this movie pulled our strings.
Zsofia Psotta did a great job as
Lili, especially for this being her first role ever. And I'm just going to go ahead and say it: the dogs in this movie did a great job "acting" out their roles. Alright, maybe it mostly had to do with the training that they received, and with a trainer giving them commands off-camera, but I don't care. They were all good boys and girls!
 |
| LIFE AIN'T EASY IN BUDAPEST. |
White God is a gorgeous movie that sheds light on an ugly subject, and it depresses as much as it entertains or shocks. I don't want that to put you off seeing this little gem, but it's a heavy movie like that, so it needs to be said. Then again, most of the movies that we review here are hardly happy-go-lucky, so...
If you like the idea of being able to watch dogs literally have their day, then give this one a rent and enjoy. Maybe tuck a box of
Kleenex behind the couch if you're the overly-emotional type though. You may need it.
B+
White God is available now on
Blu-ray,
DVD, and
VOD.
Since this movie doesn't offer much in the way of
Hotties, let's take a quick look at the adorable
Luke who made
Hagen a
Movie Dog for the ages. *That could actually be
Bodie in the pictures below, as it was
Twin Labs who played
Hagen. Either way, that's a beautiful dog.
Lord, this is a hard film to categorize and I won't try but merely make a few points. Three of the main characters undergo major changes in the movie: 1. Lili who is turning from child to young woman becoming interested in boys and experimenting with cigarettes and booze. 2. Her father changes from a first class asshole to one who genuinely cares about his daughter. 3. Hagen who changes from a sweet, loving pet to a man killer. The first two thirds of the film are realistic but the last third it becomes fable, metaphor, horror film? Two scenes most impressed me; when Hagen kills the dog in the arena, he walks over and, I swear, you can see his expression turn from triumph to self-disgust and when Hagen's little friend, the white mutt gets in and lying in the street wounded, gives the soldier a look that had me tearing up as he killed her, (in the credits, the mutt is played by Marlena). I thought you did a fine job reviewing a most difficult film and I agree with your final assessment.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a hard one to categorize, Anon, and it was definitely a tough one to write up, which is why I went the "Quick Review" route. Had I tried to expound on its themes too much, it probably would have gone over-long, and read like a bland analysis.
DeleteYou're dead on about the caracter changes, and as far as the scenes that impressed you, that is why I said that the dogs in this movie "acted" their little butts off.
Glad you liked the movie, and glad to know we weren't the only ones that got emotional throughout it.