Director: Kornél Mundruczó
MPAA Rating: R
Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó begins his foray into genre cinema, not with a whimper but with a loud bark, in his latest, White God. In this kitchen-sink approach to creating a compelling genre film, Mundruczó hits far more than he misses, making this canine version of Planet-of-the-Apes-meets-The-Birds not one to miss.
On the surface, White God tells the story of a 13-year-old girl named Lili (Zsófia Psotta) who is forced by her father to give up her dog, Hagen, so he doesn’t have to pay the hefty taxes incurred on mixed breed pets in Hungary. At first, Hagen attempts to reunite with Lili, but a series of unfortunate events occur, leaving him at the mercy of a brutal world inhabited by brutal people.
The beginning of the film plays out like a sad melodrama, with Hagen and Lili parting ways in a scene that would make even the most stone-hearted individuals tear up. From here, the film splits into two alternating stories: Lili’s coming-of-age story and Hagen’s journey, somewhat of an adult version of Homeward Bound.
Everything involving Hagen’s perilous journey to find his home is incredibly enthralling, from suspenseful chase scenes to a sequence where he is forced to participate in an underground dog fighting ring, which is very difficult to watch. Unfortunately, when the perspective switches to Lili’s story, the film is not nearly as entertaining or fascinating to watch.
Eventually, the film evolves into something of a revenge thriller, after Hagen forms an army of mutts and begins to exact his own form of justice on those who wronged him. This is where the film takes a tonal shift and begins to go off the rails. More than 200 real dogs were used in the film, and the shots of the doggie horde barreling through the streets is incredible to watch. With no CG being used, everything you see is really happening, with the exception of any real violence toward the animals of course. The excellent, mostly handheld, cinematography helped accentuate these scenes, showing us the chaos that comes from that many dogs running amuck through a city.
Like many genre films, the events of White God act as an allegory for issues plaguing our society in the modern era. In Hungary, hefty taxes were imposed on individuals owning mixed-breed dogs, causing a huge surge in strays and drop-offs at shelters. In the film, mutts are considered to be nothing more than pointless mongrels, not fit for this earth. The film clearly draws a connection to how the director views white society’s thoughts toward other races, but the sentiment becomes muddled within several other messages throughout the film.
This inclusion of bits and pieces from multiple genres mixed together with multiple social messages causes some awkward moments where the audience may be confused as to how they should be feeling. Some parts feel intentionally silly while others seem overly dramatic. While the script could have been just a bit tighter and more focused, it didn’t detract from the entertainment value of the film as a whole.
If you’re a dog lover, go see White God. Be forewarned, it will probably make you cry at least a few times, but it is simply one of the best dog movies I’ve ever seen. It’s most certainly not a kids’ movie and it doesn’t hold back from showing you some awful imagery, but the epic climax is worth the price of admission. This is the type of movie that, immediately after seeing it, you’re hopping online to see how they managed to pull it off, and I’m really hoping there is a making-of featurette included on its home release.
