White God

The opening and closing shots of White God are beautiful and powerful realizations of Director Kornél Mundruczó's allegorical horror/thriller vision. Unfortunately, much of the movie does not meet this lofty ideal.

White God tells the story of Lili who is forced by her hard-hearted father to leave her dog, Hagen, on the streets to fend for himself. As Hagen falls into a cycle of abuse and abandonment, Lili becomes more independent and forgets about him. Hagen retaliates against his human oppressors by leading his fellow shelter-dogs in an apocalyptic revolution.

Let's get one thing out of the way first: the fact that this movie was shot entirely with real dogs and practical effects is simply masterful. The angry canine horde is the most terrifying group of animals since The Birds, but Mundruczó works very hard to keep the audience sympathetic towards them. Animal Trainer Teresa Ann Miller deserves some sort of award for convincingly training over 200 dogs to convey such a wide breadth of emotion. Although I cringed seeing scenes of abuse and dog-fighting, "they were always happy, and just playing," said Mundruczó to Fangoria magazine.

Unfortunately, the acting of the dogs is by far the best acting in the movie. The actress who plays Lili does this annoying pursed-lip thing that will make you want to smack her through the screen. Lili's father remains a contemptible a** to the very end. Even the evil dog trainer, despite having the most well-scripted character, couldn't be more two-dimensional if he had a mustache to twirl.

To make matters worse, the only parts of the movie that are any good are those with Hagen. Lili's story is droll beyond belief and just feels like a distraction from Hagen. I wish that I could have read this movie as an allegory about man's abuse of animals or as a metaphor for how easily the middle class forget about the poor. Unfortunately, the tediousness of Lili's story, which was obviously written in after Hagen's, kept distracting me from the movie's emotional and philosophical core. When the movie should have been showing similarities between Lili and Hagen, it often simply drove their stories further apart.

Now, don't get me wrong, this was definitely a "good" movie. I would consider it required viewing for fans of horror and suspense. As a dog-lover, Hagen's story really hit the emotional nail on the head. Mundruczó's ambitious vision is, in itself, highly commendable. It is unfortunate that a few poor directorial choices kept this movie from becoming the masterpiece it deserved to be.

Maybe an American remake will fix some of these problems? Probably not...

White God if one of those achievement can only be done outside USA. Working with real dogs instead of digital effects; this movie is a cautionary tale about rejection, lack of communication, discrimination and its effects and consequences. Lili owns and loves a half breed dog called Hagen. Her mother planning three month trip with his new boyfriend; send her to live with her father; Daniel; a sour and frustrated man that rejects the dogs from the first moment. Lili try to take the dog with her everywhere but many people complain; including a messy neighbor who calls the dog catcher's.

Adding to the problem that Hungary's law has a tax on half free dogs; and Daniel refuse to pay it because his ex-wife did not do it either. In a moment of anger; Daniel left the dog on the street and Hagen has to find his way back.

The world surrounding the streets is far from idyllic. Hagen meets other dogs and somewhat befriends them; but dog catchers appears and capture many dogs. Hagen escapes but is captured by a dog fighter trainer who trains him and soon becomes a violent and salvage dog.

After killing another dog; Hagen escapes again; but is captured by the dog catchers who seeing him hurt; decide to kill him. Hagen who already demonstrated how intelligent and perceiving is; attack the human and release other dogs (hundreds of them) and go on killing spree around the city attacking humans who tortured them putting the city under curfew and creating chaos.

The most outstanding, compelling and moving performance is Hagen itself; played by two dogs; really Oscar deserving.

The rest of the cast; specially the 12 years old Zsófia Psotta as Lili are incredible good in a character quite strong, trying to be adult but still too young to be by herself. Everyone of her moments in screen is captivating.

In brief; a very intense movie; with a little but necessary gore worth seeing even in video.

"Don't be afraid, they're just a bunch of dogs." Man at a club.

Well it's not the surrealistic Cujo with its rabid St. Bernard or the benign Benji. White Dog, rather, feels like a realistic horror film, at least till the closing when it does get surreal. Indeed, these mutts are not "just a bunch." They loosely represent the abused and subjugated underclass of the world, and you guessed it, they revolt like apes from that infamous planet or workers from Metropolis.

Until that fantasy ending, where the dogs are let loose to wreak havoc, the story is an effectively scary progression of the dog Max's descent into rabid madness through various masters, the last of whom teaches him how to kill for dog fights. Young Lili (Zsofia Psotta) befriends Max as a stray until she's forced to let him go—on to his bloody career. Lili's struggles to keep the dog put her in opposition to her father, Daniel (Sandor Zsoter),and most authoritarian situations like playing in an orchestra under a controlling maestro.

As the drama slowly exposes (think about Hitchcock's measured exposition in The Birds) the constant abuse stray dogs are accustomed to, it parallels Lili's battle with a clueless father and abusive dog catchers, who sometimes resemble Ghostbusters in their uniforms and bungling dog chases. In either case, dog or girl, adults are usually clueless about the suffering they inflict on their dogs and children.

Like the poor French of their Revolution, the downtrodden and dogs will have their day. Today's increasing gap between the rich and poor or the brutality of Mid-Eastern ISIS persecutions can serve as the objects of writer/director Kornal Mundruczo's figurative story. For those not interested in English-major deconstructions, White God (the title may be homage to Sam Fuller's White Dog) is a fine horror story about the voiceless downtrodden rising up against their oppressors.

No matter which side you're on, it's a disturbing tale, bloody and depressing, elevated to artistic worthiness by an uncanny fusion of the real and the surreal.

Lili is eleven years old and has a beloved dog – Hagen. Her parents are split up and when her mother has to go for a 3 month jolly with work to Australia – she has to stay with pops. Only he lives in an apartment where mutts are verboten. All cross breeds are seen as inferior to pure breeds in Hungary.

Despite her best efforts Hagen ends up on the mean streets of Budapest and she, in her innocent way, sets out to find him. Now that is the very simple synopsis for what is a film with so much more to offer. This is a cast of thousands – of dogs that is. All of the mixed breed dogs were untrained and rescued from shelters. The performances are stunning. There are scenes of animal butchery and animal cruelty – so if that will offend then this may not be for you.

It is also a parable about how one species dominates another in the belief it is the superior – and we all know that in parables pride leads to a fall.

This is also shot beautifully in a beautiful city with stunning realism and an eye for the impact that such a powerful story can make. Official entry fro the Academy Awards for best foreign language film 2015 and winner of Un Certain Regard prize at the 2014 Canes Film Festival – this is amazing, original, stunning and highly entertaining cinema.

At first it seems like a children's movie, but then it becomes too dark. It's a well made movie. The girl's acting is good.

It can be useful for us to reflect on the treatment we have with our pets or with animals in general.