the best thing about a film festival is the broad range on offer
the write-up for this one enticing - disney-ish / horror / apocolyptic vision
and based in hungary with a few actors and about 250 dogs - i'll take it
opening scene shows a young girl biking in slow motion across a bridge
an abandoned car, empty streets, wide shot then close-up of the pedals
looking very good from the opening frame - cinematography especially
then a pack of dogs appear around a corner and catch up to her
cut to the same girl playing fetch with a large healthy looking dog
we know we've gone back in time but thankfully not spelt out
the director not stating the obvious and letting us work it out
i like that too - let the audience do some work in the film
lili is 13 - lives with mum and has hagen the dog as a pet
but mum off to a conference so she has to stay with her dad
he works as a meat inspector at the city abbatoir - we meet him there
confronting scenes of a large cow being skinned, gutted and dismembered
animal lovers in the audience will be squirming - me thinking vegetarianism - good
he's actually not a very nice person - cold to his daughter and hates dogs / animals
after one restless night he decides the dog has to go so is dumped in the suburbs
more so after the council comes knocking and hitting him up for the new dog tax
highest for cross-breeds, minimal for pure-breeds and zilch for hungarian dogs
so inversely proportional to the likely wealth of owners - a right-wing measure
this single move apparantly the inspiration for the writing/making of this film
hagen is abandoned and lili is disconsolate - she then spends days in search
amazing scenes then of hagen in survival mode in a very hostile environment
things go from bad to worse as he is sold down the line into dog-fighting
despairing scenes of him being injected, beaten and aggressively trained
tranquilizers used to knock him out so his teeth can be razor-sharpened
leading to a dog-fight scene we really don't want to see - but some relief
throughout the film i have sat in wonder at the clear personality of hagen
wondering how they did it - fortunately the fight-scene is done in close-up
indicating the dog-fight was well staged and filmed - despite the blood
hagen makes his escape but eventually is caught and then impounded
from there a mass breakout sees a gang of dogs running the streets
and then back to the opening scene - and now fully explained
they run riot and revenge is taken - we're in horror mode now
lili is close behind and eventually she and hagen confront
it could go either way but thankfully it's a happy ending
not necessarily what is expected but still good to see
what an amazing film - disney / horror / apocolyptic?
all of those and totally unique with it - superb
