Hachiko - Eine wunderbare Freundschaft

Finally a film without explosions, computer graphics, and violence. A family film with a message. Adults will relate to the story of life-long friendship and loyalty. Children will love the "dog story" A tender story will huge box office potential. The possible "sleeper hit" of the holidays. Pet lovers everywhere will relate to this film and will leave theaters in tears. A weepy, wonderful film about the bond that develops between one man and a dog after a chance meeting at a train station. Bring extra tissues! Based on a true story, this film was shot mostly in Woonsocket, Rhode Island at a historic old train station. Beautifully shot and edited. The film runs less than 2-hours. The film generally adheres to the actual true story of a dog in Japan. The dog became a national treasure and a monument was erected to honor him.

I think at the end of the day, what matters in a movie is how different it leaves you after you've watched it. It could be technically brilliant and leave you in amazement about how a narrative can be structured, leave you thinking about an issue from a totally unique perspective or just leave you thinking.

But if you believe that the impact a movie has on you is important - you cannot afford to miss this movie. I've never written a review in the past 7-8 years of using IMDb but signed up just so I could say how much I loved this movie.

I read a couple of reviews talk about crying during the movie and thought it odd. I can't remember the last time I cried during a movie - but towards the last 15 minutes of the movie I didn't only cry - I cried from the depth of my heart, not out of sadness but from a much deeper sense of realization the power of true love and how it can manifest itself. You hear so many times that there is 'God' in all of us if we can realize it - at the end of this movie you will know why it's true.

It's a must watch movie.

I had a dog like this. She followed me everywhere I went til the day she died. Dring the last six months of her life had to hand feed her every day and although it was very painful for her to eat, her will to live kept her alive. Eventually she could no longer eat because the cyst on her mouth was so large that she could no longer get food down. She lasted much longer than they said she should have. And when I went to put her down they were amazed that she lasted as long as she did. When they gave her the injection, she did not die. They gave her another injection, she did not die. They had to give her well above the normal dose to put her to sleep, her will to live was amazing. She wanted to be with me and fought to the very end to do so. Putting her to sleep was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

If you find a dog like this, treasure it, life is too short. There is nothing in this world like the love and loyalty of a dog.

Knowing the real-life story behind it, Hachiko: A Dog's Story (2009) has been made in a sort of staged documentary style, similar to the kind of movies often seen on documentary channels (e.g. NatGeo), however without a narrator so common in documentaries, and including well-known actors (Richard Gere, Sarah Roemer and Joan Allen), making it more suitable for theatrical distribution.

Before my last year's visit to Tokyo I've been unaware of the true-life story this movie is based upon. In time an occasion came up to meet a friend in Shibuya city, contemporary center of Tokyo's youth culture (shopping, fashion, nightlife...), and that's how I've learned about the popular local meeting point for all Tokyoites, the Hachikō Akita dog statue just outside of Shibuya Train Station, but the real story behind it has been still eluding me ever since. After seeing this movie, and some additional research on the web, all pieces have fallen into place.

In retelling the story of common bonding between the dog and its owner, so usual that it comes so natural, film is moving at slow pace, following events of an ordinary life, though not without occasional comedic and dramatic overtones. Even past the dramatic highpoint, when common acts of affection and loyalty evolve towards such an unheard-of faithfulness and ultimate devotion, pace of the storytelling does not change, relying primarily on fine details and emotional build-up. Of course, this might not attract everybody, providing that majority of movie audience today is highly dependent on fast paced, action packed scenes, getting thrills from 3D CG stylized ambiance and suspense, high volume amplitudes and aggressive, often rude highlights of any other nature. However, for those who can do without it, and keep alive their interest even in a simple story, who won't shy away from emotional involvement (as if this can be controlled), they shall easily find themselves consumed by its mere beauty and warmth. Usual man's-best-friend story, spiced with an intriguing yet inspiring detail, shall leave you a bit sad, inevitably pensive, but ultimately delighted. Even more so after the reading of the real-life epilogue.

Its really hard to articulate when you have so much to write and so little words to express. And even lesser words which could actually help you convey what you want to say. The closest word which comes to my mind in this case is 'stupendous'.

Hachiko is a true story about a dog in Japan and the special bond he shared with a professor whom he met when it was a little puppy. The story has been put forward exceptionally well by the cast and the director.

The movie has been kept extremely simple with minimum effort on the scenes, yet remarkably you are kept spellbound after a couple of minutes into the movie. And as the other reviews suggest, making the whole theater grab onto their tissues explains how good it really is.

Lastly, coming for someone who also rates 'Eight below' as one of his favorite's, a high rating of Hachiko would seem a little biased to many. But in my honest opinion I don't think that anybody who has watched this movie can rate it below 10.