White God
Director: Kornel Mundruczó
Starring: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth
101 mins; Class 15;
Eden Cinemas Release

A young girl cycles down deserted city streets. There is clearly something amiss, the eerie silence signalling something sinister. Out of nowhere, a pack of dogs start to chase her, with alarming determination…

This is the powerful opening scene of White God, a Hungarian film that won the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 2014 Cannes Festival, and was submitted for the Best Foreign Language Oscar but did not make the final five.

Lili (Zsófia Psotta) is sent to spend some time with her estranged father while her mother heads off to Sydney for a conference. The father-daughter relationship is fraught. To make matters worse, her father refuses to pay a tax on Lili’s beloved pet dog Hagen, a tax imposed because it is not a pure breed. And so, Lili’s father callously abandons the dog on the roadside, to her great heartbreak and despair.

Lili doesn’t give up on Hagen, and does her best to find him. In the meantime, Hagen embarks on a cruel and perilous journey, evading the city’s heartless dog catchers, eventually being captured by a dogfighting trainer with nefarious intentions. It is a journey during which Hagen learns that man is not always dog’s best friend...

With White God, director Kornel Mundruczó has not only created a stark study of the delicate relationship between master and animal and the inhumane treatment man can sometimes mete out to animals; but also a timely allegory for the racism that simmers below the surface in many a supposed advanced and cosmopolitan city.

He takes an unfiltered, pointed look at the obsession of the authorities for ‘pure breeds’ and his condemnation of men who feel superior over perceived lesser beings – specifically white men, as the film’s title illustrates – permeates throughout.

The film is set against the backdrop of a city coming to terms with its place in a European context – and Mundruczó’s use of this most beloved of domestic pets really hammers the point home as the loving and dependent relationship that exists between Lili and Hagen is broken by the callous treatment received by the dog. However it is this relationship that may ultimately offer some redemption at the end.

The film is set against the backdrop of a city coming to terms with its place in a European context

Animal lovers will baulk at the unfeeling treatment the dogs receive from the authorities; and things only get worse with the unflinching depiction of the brutal training dogs are put through for dog fighting competitions.

Audiences will not be faulted for rooting for the dogs as the film reaches its chilling climax as the hundreds of the dogs abandoned in shelters led by Hagen lay their violent siege on the city like a well-organised army; their objective clear as they rise dramatically and intelligently against their oppressors. Here the director fluidly moves the film from the dramatic into the truly horrifying; excellently painting the scene with shades of Hitchcock’s The Birds and Stephen King’s Cujo.

Mundruczó draws out excellent performances from young Psotta, whose Lili doggedly searches for her beloved Hagen. Kudos to Sándor Zsóstár as her father who is not simply a cruel parent, but a man struggling with the tribulations of parenthood suddenly imposed on him.

Yet the true star(s) of the film are Luke and Bodie, brothers from the same litter trained by Teresa Miller, who between them give the film its heart and soul as the true protagonist of the film. Hagen has most of the screen time and this is truly his story.

It should be pointe0d out that the filmmakers are at pains to stress that no animals were harmed during the making of this film. Furthermore, the director has said that each dog that appeared in the film came from shelters and after the shooting ended they were all adopted and found new homes.

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