Y’know those movies where a pet gets lost, and then has to go on a quest and endure hardships to get back home? (i.e. “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey,” “The Adventures of Milo and Otis,” or “Tom and Jerry: The Movie”) So those movies are usually aimed at kids or families, which makes sense right? People like looking at cute animals, it’s something that has a simple and wide appeal. Well, Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó is here with “White God” to give us the “R” rated version we deserve.
This was described to me as and “R” rated combination of “Lassie” and “Spatacus.” Ticket sold.
Y’know those movies where a pet gets lost, and then has to go on a quest and endure hardships to get back home? (i.e. “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey,” “The Adventures of Milo and Otis,” or “Tom and Jerry: The Movie”) So those movies are usually aimed at kids or families, which makes sense right? People like looking at cute animals, it’s something that has a simple and wide appeal. Well, Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó is here with “White God” to give us the “R” rated version we deserve.
For much of its running time the film flips back and forth between our canine hero, Hagen, and his human companion, a 13 year old girl named Lili. Hagen spends the movie trying survive in a dark and scary world that wants to control him, while Lili goes through some, honestly pretty tame, teenage rebellion, which is spurred but not completely caused by the loss of her dog. The movie tries to set up these stories as parallel, but the balance is off.
Now from the jump it’s clear that this isn’t one of those family movies. The cinematography is too cold and clinical. The movie never welcomes you into this world. Which thematically matches with our protagonists being transferred from one parent to another when we join them. It’s an unknown, unfriendly world. Also, one of the first scenes of the movie is of an actual cow being skinned and cut in half for meat inspection; for no particular reason.
This is not a family picture.
But when you’re watching scenes of Hagen making friends with a stray dog who teaches him the ways of the street, and Lili calling her orchestra conductor heartless and pinning for an older bad boy, you start to wonder.
Then she passes out drunk at a club and gets busted holding drugs for that bad boy (although still, pretty tame stuff); while Hagen gets captured and sold into a dog fighting ring, and you remember that this is an “R” rated movie. And the movie plays it out straight, with Hagen being tortured into becoming a fighter, eventually winning his first match, killing another dog. But the real turning point comes when he kills his first human. Suddenly it’s an animal cruelty revenge movie. The stray dog revolution is playing out as a cross between a mob riot and a slasher film.
This movie seems like it should be a joke, and maybe it really is, but if if it is it’s a good one. It takes itself seriously, and tells its story with complete sincerity. Even as we’re getting a showdown between armored police officers and what is literally described as an organized army of dogs.
It is glorious and totally surreal. The build up takes too long, the script and acting are not great… but that payoff man. This is a climax worth working for.
This is a movie worth seeing.
