White Dog (1982)
As usual, the sensationalist Sam Fuller pulls off a riveting film, and its message about racism is blunt. And the filming is strong, the editing tight. Much of the acting (the three main people at least) is also good.
But the writing is forced, which causes some of the lesser actors to fumble, and the better actors to strain a bit. It's not a subtle film, and the main theme, about racist dogs (attack dogs trained to attack blacks) is interesting but not really enough, by itself to be satisfying. And there many times when people just don't do quite the right thing--where the main woman would try to stop her dog from attacking another actress, for one example. The dog training aspects are fanciful in general, and a bit nerve wracking.
However, there are some great animal rights implications here, a little ahead of the curve in movies. These in turn are meant to raise issues of human racism, and the analogy is great. I just with the movie had more substance, and better construction, as a movie.
As usual, the sensationalist Sam Fuller pulls off a riveting film, and its message about racism is blunt. And the filming is strong, the editing tight. Much of the acting (the three main people at least) is also good.
But the writing is forced, which causes some of the lesser actors to fumble, and the better actors to strain a bit. It's not a subtle film, and the main theme, about racist dogs (attack dogs trained to attack blacks) is interesting but not really enough, by itself to be satisfying. And there many times when people just don't do quite the right thing--where the main woman would try to stop her dog from attacking another actress, for one example. The dog training aspects are fanciful in general, and a bit nerve wracking.
However, there are some great animal rights implications here, a little ahead of the curve in movies. These in turn are meant to raise issues of human racism, and the analogy is great. I just with the movie had more substance, and better construction, as a movie.