Violence to Animals in Film: November 2014

Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.

Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.

Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.

These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

Dillinger Is Dead

Dillinger Is Dead (Dillinger è morto). Marco Ferreri, 1969.

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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #506, released 2010. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: Bullfighting.

Details: A home movie of a bullfight is projected 44:20-46:48, with some gruesome shots included.

Deep Red

Deep Red (Profondo rosso). Dario Argento, 1975.

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Edition screened: Blue Underground Blu-ray, released 2011. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime of Italian version approximately 126 minutes, runtime of English version approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: Real killing of a bird and a lizard.

Details:

1) A myna bird is impaled on a knitting needle and we see it on the floor gasping and bleeding, 1:01:25-1:01:37.

2) A lizard is skewered through the torso by a needle and we see it on the ground thrashing in pain, 1:19:41-1:19:46.

Deep Red is one of Argento’s strongest and tightest films, grossly diminished by these unnecessary and real animal murders. I am disgusted by the insecurity and overcompensation displayed by Argento, Bertolucci, e altri pisani who apparently feel like Real Men when they torture animals for the camera.

1972 Jungle Life in the coffee bar scene.

A Trace

A Trace (Ślad). Martin Latałło, 1996.

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Edition screened: Included on Second Run DVD #77 Illumination, in the box set Polish Cinema Classics Volume II, released 2013. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 26 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Ślad is an artful exposé on the short life of Stanislaw Latałło, star of Zanussi’s Illumination. Stanislaw’s son Martin uses poetic letters from his father and interviews with other filmmakers to make a biography of his father that is corporally similar to the character he plays in Illumination, in turn a partial autobiography of Zanussi.

Illumination

Illumination (Iluminacja). Krzysztof Zanussi, 1972.

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Edition screened: Second Run DVD #77 included in the box set Polish Cinema Classics Volume II, released 2013. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

Summary: Lab monkey experimentation.

Details: Beginning at 47:47 and continuing through 48:30 we see a lab monkey constrained in a pillory with electrodes introduced into his skull and subjected to impulses that induce rage.

Illumination is a remarkable, intelligent, and enjoyable film that envelopes issues of scientific objective and personal capacity into an easy narrative structure. Shame on our insightful writer/director for including a scene of animal experimentation. Watch it anyway.

The Second Run DVD also includes the short film A Trace (Ślad) which adds value to Illumination, and an appealing interview with suave director Zanussi.

Lady Chatterley

Lady Chatterley. Pascale Ferran, 2006.

😿

Edition screened: Kino ‘Extended European Edition’ DVD, released 2008. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 201 minutes.

Summary: Brief display of killed animals.

Details: The cameras lingers on a composition of dead pheasants and a rabbit on a kitchen window sill, 21:22-21:25.

Cotton Comes to Harlem

Cotton Comes to Harlem. Ossie Davis, 1970.

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Edition screened: Kino Lorber Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: Rough handling of chickens.

Details: Crates of chickens are opened during a riot and the birds are tossed around idiotically, 1:05:25-1:06:10, with connotations that they will be taken home and cooked by the rioters.

Contagion

Contagion. Steven Soderbergh, 2011.

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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.

Summary: Laboratory animals killed.

Details: A dead monkey is taken from his cell, wrapped, and bagged, 1:08:15-1:08:35.

La Belle Noiseuse

La Belle Noiseuse. Jacques Rivette, 1991.

😿
Edition screened: Included in the Artificial Eye 3-DVD set La Belle Noiseuse: Definitive Edition, released 2009. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 237 minutes.

Summary: Background taxidermy action.

Michel Piccoli and Jane Birkin own an old French castle, in which she has a small taxidermy studio and he has a huge painting studio. Several dialogue scenes take place in the taxidermy studio, in which there sometimes is vague action on a table involving a bird specimen. There is no focus on or explanation of the taxidermy work. The studio is a symbolic place for dialogue to occur.

Disc 1:

1) Michel Piccoli is in frame carrying a dead rabbit, 17:14-17:30.

2) We enter Jane Birkin’s taxidermy studio and see her prepare a dead bird for taxidermy, going over it with a Stanley knife, 1:16:00-1:17:14.

3) Taxidermy studio dialogue 1:56:00-1:57:30.

Disc 2:

4) Taxidermy studio dialogue 29:28-31:41.

La Belle Noiseuse is one of the best dramas about art and psyche that a person could hope to see. Do not allow the mild taxidermy set to discourage your viewing. This remastered package from Artificial Eye also includes the shorter Divertimento version of the film.

King of New York

King of New York. Abel Ferrara, 1990.

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Edition screened: Lions Gate Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Bad Lieutenant

Bad Lieutenant. Abel Ferrara, 1992.

😸

Edition screened: Artisan Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

He really is a very very bad lieutenant. Really bad.

Eugene

Eugene. Spencer Susser, 2012.

😿

Edition screened: Included on 20th Century Fox Blu-ray Trance, released 2013. English language with English subtitles / English intertitles with English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 13 minutes.

Summary: Comedic depiction of a dying fish.

Details: This comedy short ends with a broken fishbowl and a goldfish stranded on the carpet. I didn’t ruin the joke here, and the fish clearly is not real.

Trance

Trance. Danny Boyle, 2013.

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Edition screened: 20th Century Fox Blu-ray released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

This edition also includes the comedy short Eugene (2012).

Odin’s Shield Maiden

Odin’s Shield Maiden. Guy Maddin, 2007.

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Edition screened: Included on Seville DVD My Winnipeg, released 2008. Music track with English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 4 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Berlin

Berlin. Guy Maddin, 2008.

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Edition screened: Included on Seville DVD My Winnipeg, released 2008. Sound effects and music track with English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 1 minute.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Another Woman

Another Woman. Woody Allen, 1988.

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Edition screened: MGM DVD, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Amélie

Amélie. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001.

😿

Edition screened: Miramax Blu-ray released 2011. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 122 minutes.

Summary: Abuse of a pet fish for cheap laughs.

Details: A montage shows the CGI pet goldfish stranded on the floor under furniture, poked with vacuum cleaner attachments and other things in an attempt to retrieve him, 6:23-6:55. Ultimately he is dumped in a stream and we see him looking up sadly at the people who betrayed him. Fortunately, Amélie’s mother is smashed to death soon thereafter and her father lives out his life as a sad old poop.

Alice

Alice. Woody Allen, 1990.

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Edition screened: MGM DVD, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Sapphire

Sapphire. Basil Dearden, 1959.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 25: Basil Dearden’s London Underground 4-DVD set, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Sapphire is a compelling murder mystery hinging on mid-century British race relations, but typical for Dearden, he departs from the usual anemic British hand wringing.

All Night Long

All Night Long. Basil Dearden, 1962.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 25: Basil Dearden’s London Underground 4-DVD set, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Basil Dearden’s London Underground

Basil Dearden’s London Underground. Basil Dearden, 1959-1962.

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Edition screened: Criterion Eclipse Series #25, 4-DVD set, released 2010. English language. Collective runtime approximately 399 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

This 25th volume in Criterion's Eclipse Series includes

Sapphire (1959)

The League of Gentlemen (1960)

Victim (1961)

All Night Long (1962)

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