The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushiko). Shôhei Imamura, 1983.
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Edition screened: Eureka Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #24, released 2011. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 130 minutes.
Summary: Pervasive presence of animals in stressful contexts.
Details:
1) A group of men, running and shouting, pursues a large hair at 8:00. One of these hunters has another hare hanging from his belt. The rabbit is shot at a distance at 8:25 and tumbles in the snow. A hawk carries him off at 8:40.
2) A snake swallows a rodent, 29:40-29:48. The scene is in a documentary style and does not connote cruelty in any way, one of many scenes in the film depicting parallels between human life and animal life.
3) Implication of a man sexually abusing a dog, 41:00-41:24. Nothing sexually explicit is shown, and the blocking obscures and real evidence.
4) A bird is struck with a staff, 46:42, with no detailed images.
5) A horse is struck, 1:15:53.
The rabbit shooting appears to be a real killing. Other scenes on the list are not notably graphic, bloody, nor seem extreme in the context of peasant village life. As in Profound Desire of the Gods, animals are important observers, commentators, and participants in daily life.