White God and Zombies
Hi Mom.
I'm not sure why I'm surprised that my TV bingeing and film watching has stayed at a steady pace after starting college. Having it on in the background is pretty habitual and now I even have opportunities to see free movies thanks to the school.
Every Thursday night the school is offering students and the community to come and watch free films that are usually obscure world cinema or film noir. Last night, roommate Emelie and I went to the first of the series, White God. And had I read the flyer carefully I probably would not have sat through it. White God, or "Fehér isten" in its original language, is a 2014 Hungarian film directed by Kornél Mundruczó that follows a mutt (half Sharpe half Labrador), Hagen and his owner, 13 year old Lili. And boy howdy this movie was intense.
Set in Hungary, mixed breed dogs have been put a tax on them. No one wants them and shelters put them down by the hundreds. Enter Hagen, an innocent, happy dog who loves his owner, Lili who loves him just as much. When Lili is forced to stay with her father (because her mother is going away to a convention for 3 months?) and her father wants absolutely nothing to do with the dog. It isn't even 10 minutes into the movie that the old lady next door who obviously likes her stick her nose in other people's business has called animal control and claimed the dog bit her.
Lili refuses to give up Hagen, as any decent human being would, and her father abandons Hagen on the side of the road soon thereafter. This is just the beginning of a very long, very emotional movie. Hagen eventually befriends a pack of dogs, chased by animal control, 'saved' by a homeless man who then sells poor Hagen to a dog fighting crony. Hagen is drugged, beaten, bulked up, teeth sharpened, starved and eventually trained to kill. It's really not a movie for the faint hearted, or dog lovers.
After killing another dog and winning the first match for his bastard of a new owner, Hagen manages to escape, gets caught by the animal control and sentenced to death because he is considered 'un-adoptable'. On the way to death row, Hagen manages to overpower his captor, rip out his neck and free hundreds of dogs that were also marked to be euthanized. This is where the movie turns unexpectedly into a Hitchcock horror film, reminiscent of The Crow. (Now, I know I just sounded very educated, but honestly the flyer made that comparison even before the movie started). Hagen, and his fellow freed dogs, storm the city, seeking revenge on those that did him wrong. Starting with old lady neighbor who ratted him out to animal control in the first place, the butcher that tried to kill him for nosing around, then the homeless man who sold him, and of course his bastard of a master, the dog fighter crony. It gets very dark.
Then of course there's Lili this whole time, doing what you would expect confused and saddened movie teenagers to do: drink, disobey her father, back talk to her teachers and constantly run off (granted she's searching for Hagen when she does, but still). Lili is convinced when she finds Hagen that all will be well again, because what 13 year old could imagine the horrors that Hagen found himself in?
So, when Hagen does eventually backtrack to father dearest who abandoned him on the side of the rode, Lili falls in the middle of the final confrontation. Not to mention Hagen has an army of dogs with him this entire time and the city is in a panic because of all the fatalities (hey no one dog can command an entire dog army without there being some loose cannons, amiright?). After a fairly dragged out scene with a growling Hagen and a terrified Lili who is shocked by his change in attitude, Lili eventually pulls out her trumpet (oh yea I totally forgot to mention that earlier) and plays the song that used to put good ole Hagen to sleep at nights. Hagen lays down, calm, as does the rest of the dog army. End of movie.
Honestly, the really dramatic turn of events felt more humorous than scary. It was the dog fighting scenes and brutality of animals that scared me more than anything. I don't know how anyone can be cruel to animals. It's inexcusable, and any decent person knows it. I really wanted to go to the nearest shelter and adopt like five dogs after that movie. For now I'll have to settle with freeing salamanders.
So that was last night. Today, after growling at my alarm, shuffling to figure drawing and storytelling, I took a nice nap and started on my weekend of homework. Then, during dinner, I watched Fear the Walking Dead and that wasn't any lighter than White God. It was good. I mean I didn't love it, didn't hate it. Mainly it was just stressful. Since the audience knows whats going to happen and the characters don't, the director liked to play with us. Giving us intense music and dim lightning when in fact nothing came from it. I do think it is a scarier premise than The Walking Dead, at least for me. Mainly because the concept of having absolutely no idea what's going on terrifies me more than being able to kick some zombie ass. Pre apocalypse is more dangerous than staying alive and staying away from the zombies. A lot more can go wrong I think.
Side note: I'm becoming the queen of parallel parking.
I'm not sure why I'm surprised that my TV bingeing and film watching has stayed at a steady pace after starting college. Having it on in the background is pretty habitual and now I even have opportunities to see free movies thanks to the school.
Every Thursday night the school is offering students and the community to come and watch free films that are usually obscure world cinema or film noir. Last night, roommate Emelie and I went to the first of the series, White God. And had I read the flyer carefully I probably would not have sat through it. White God, or "Fehér isten" in its original language, is a 2014 Hungarian film directed by Kornél Mundruczó that follows a mutt (half Sharpe half Labrador), Hagen and his owner, 13 year old Lili. And boy howdy this movie was intense.
Set in Hungary, mixed breed dogs have been put a tax on them. No one wants them and shelters put them down by the hundreds. Enter Hagen, an innocent, happy dog who loves his owner, Lili who loves him just as much. When Lili is forced to stay with her father (because her mother is going away to a convention for 3 months?) and her father wants absolutely nothing to do with the dog. It isn't even 10 minutes into the movie that the old lady next door who obviously likes her stick her nose in other people's business has called animal control and claimed the dog bit her.
Lili refuses to give up Hagen, as any decent human being would, and her father abandons Hagen on the side of the road soon thereafter. This is just the beginning of a very long, very emotional movie. Hagen eventually befriends a pack of dogs, chased by animal control, 'saved' by a homeless man who then sells poor Hagen to a dog fighting crony. Hagen is drugged, beaten, bulked up, teeth sharpened, starved and eventually trained to kill. It's really not a movie for the faint hearted, or dog lovers.
After killing another dog and winning the first match for his bastard of a new owner, Hagen manages to escape, gets caught by the animal control and sentenced to death because he is considered 'un-adoptable'. On the way to death row, Hagen manages to overpower his captor, rip out his neck and free hundreds of dogs that were also marked to be euthanized. This is where the movie turns unexpectedly into a Hitchcock horror film, reminiscent of The Crow. (Now, I know I just sounded very educated, but honestly the flyer made that comparison even before the movie started). Hagen, and his fellow freed dogs, storm the city, seeking revenge on those that did him wrong. Starting with old lady neighbor who ratted him out to animal control in the first place, the butcher that tried to kill him for nosing around, then the homeless man who sold him, and of course his bastard of a master, the dog fighter crony. It gets very dark.
Then of course there's Lili this whole time, doing what you would expect confused and saddened movie teenagers to do: drink, disobey her father, back talk to her teachers and constantly run off (granted she's searching for Hagen when she does, but still). Lili is convinced when she finds Hagen that all will be well again, because what 13 year old could imagine the horrors that Hagen found himself in?
So, when Hagen does eventually backtrack to father dearest who abandoned him on the side of the rode, Lili falls in the middle of the final confrontation. Not to mention Hagen has an army of dogs with him this entire time and the city is in a panic because of all the fatalities (hey no one dog can command an entire dog army without there being some loose cannons, amiright?). After a fairly dragged out scene with a growling Hagen and a terrified Lili who is shocked by his change in attitude, Lili eventually pulls out her trumpet (oh yea I totally forgot to mention that earlier) and plays the song that used to put good ole Hagen to sleep at nights. Hagen lays down, calm, as does the rest of the dog army. End of movie.
Honestly, the really dramatic turn of events felt more humorous than scary. It was the dog fighting scenes and brutality of animals that scared me more than anything. I don't know how anyone can be cruel to animals. It's inexcusable, and any decent person knows it. I really wanted to go to the nearest shelter and adopt like five dogs after that movie. For now I'll have to settle with freeing salamanders.
So that was last night. Today, after growling at my alarm, shuffling to figure drawing and storytelling, I took a nice nap and started on my weekend of homework. Then, during dinner, I watched Fear the Walking Dead and that wasn't any lighter than White God. It was good. I mean I didn't love it, didn't hate it. Mainly it was just stressful. Since the audience knows whats going to happen and the characters don't, the director liked to play with us. Giving us intense music and dim lightning when in fact nothing came from it. I do think it is a scarier premise than The Walking Dead, at least for me. Mainly because the concept of having absolutely no idea what's going on terrifies me more than being able to kick some zombie ass. Pre apocalypse is more dangerous than staying alive and staying away from the zombies. A lot more can go wrong I think.
Side note: I'm becoming the queen of parallel parking.
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