Violence to Animals in Film: 2015

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.

Park Row

Park Row. Samuel Fuller, 1952.

😸

Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema DVD #119, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Eureka! DVD includes an informative 22-minute appreciation of the film by likable film scholar Bill Krohn.

The Murderer Lives at 21

The Murderer Lives at 21 (L'Assassin habite … au 21). Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1942.

😸

Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #57, released 2013. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

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

Details: A magic trick includes the brief illusion that a bird has died in the magician’s hand, but the bird returns to life immediately.

Massacre Gun

Massacre Gun (Minagoroshi no kenjû). Yasuharu Hasebe, 1967.

😸

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2015. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A Man and a Woman

A Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme). Claude Lelouch, 1966.

😸

Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 2003. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

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

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Dieterle)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. William Dieterle, 1939.

😸

Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 117 minutes.

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

Hard Candy

Hard Candy. David Slade, 2005.

😸

Edition screened: Lions Gate Blu-ray, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Gap-Toothed Women

Gap-Toothed Women. Les Blank, 1987.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set #737 Les Blank: Always for Pleasure, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 31 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Criterion indexes the related 2014 documentary Mind the Gap after this title. Oh, my sides.

The Fast and the Furious

The Fast and the Furious. Rob Cohen, 2001.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Universal’s 7-title Fast & Furious Blu-ray Collection, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Emperor’s New Clothes (Taylor)

The Emperor’s New Clothes. Alan Taylor, 2001.

😸

Edition screened: Paramount DVD, released 2002. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.

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

Dragon’s Return

Dragon’s Return (Drak sa vracia). Eduard Grečner, 1967.

😿😿😿

Edition screened: Second Run DVD #103, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.

Summary: Murder of a sheep.

Details:

1) A sheep’s throat is slit as a sacrifice, 26:00-26:15.

2) Numerous long scenes involve driving a herd of cattle through a forest fire to relocate them to safety. The cows obviously are scared and upset but there are no images of them being burned or otherwise harmed in any specific way.

Dark Habits

Dark Habits (Entre tinieblas). Pedro Almodóvar, 1983.

😸

Edition screened: Fox Lorber DVD, released 2006. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 116 minutes.

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

Dance Party, USA

Dance Party, USA. Aaron Katz, 2006.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Ryko 2-DVD set, Quiet City and Dance Party, USA, released 2008. English mumbling. Runtime approximately 65 minutes.

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

Casablanca

Casablanca. Michael Curtiz, 1942.

😸

Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Brown Bunny

The Brown Bunny. Vincent Gallo, 2003.

😸

Edition screened: Columbia TriStar DVD, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Blood Rage

Blood Rage. John Grissmer, 1987.

😸

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Arrow Blu-ray packages also contains a version of Blood Rage edited for violent content called Nightmare at Shadow Woods.

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath (I tre volei della paura / The Three Faces of Fear). Mario Bava, 1963.

😸

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2013. English language with optional original Italian dub. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

In addition to many supplemental features, this impressive 3-disc package from Arrow includes the original Italian cut of Black Sabbath in addition to the American (AIP) version running about three minutes longer. These two versions merit a little discussion:

The film was recorded with English-speaking actors. The original Italian release was dubbed with Italian, which makes for an interesting experience if you turn on the subtitles to read English that corresponds to the actors’ mouths while you listen to Italian language. The American version simply retains the (original) English soundtrack.

Black Sabbath is a portmanteau of three short stories introduced and segued by Boris Karloff. The Telephone is a slightly sexy horror/revenge thriller. The Drop of Water is a truly frightening tale of curses and psychological terror. The final and longest story is The Wurdalak, a Russian tale of the undead starring Karloff himself.

The three dramas are edited to varying degrees in the American version, with only minor and inconsequential cuts to The Drop of Water and The Wurdalak. The Telephone is altered more substantially to remove violent images and suggestions of lesbianism, leaving the story less interesting, less suspenseful, and less sensible. The American version runs a few minutes longer due to different and slightly longer versions of the Karloff introductions, which add little if any enjoyment to Black Sabbath in either version.

My recommendation is to watch the American versions of The Drop of Water and The Wurdalak, especially to enjoy the classically fine writing and spooks of The Drop without distracting lip synch issues. The Telephone, comparatively short, is best enjoyed in the original Italian overdub.

2 Fast 2 Furious

2 Fast 2 Furious. John Singleton, 2003.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included in Universal’s 6-title Fast & Furious Blu-ray Collection, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.

Summary: Alarming abuse of a tame rat.

Details: A large and attractive tame rat is partially ‘baked’ in a steel bucket with a blow-torch to provoke him into attacking someone, 1:00:40-1:02:53.

This scene easily can be skipped, and you will miss nothing of the alleged plot in this boring movie. The result of threatening the fat cop with the abused rat is that the cop agrees to give the villains a 15-minute safety window to pull their caper. I especially resent scenes such as this that serve as do-it-yourself videos for easy animal torture.

The first Fast & Furious film is ok for what it is. This second installment is boring and stupid in comparison. Not even the racing scenes are exciting, relying mostly on close-ups of hands and feet shifting and clutching, and speedometers climbing from about 80 to about 95, whoop-di-do. The best part of 2 Fast 2 Furious is the opening scene, identical to an early scene in the first film, with all the tough cars, cool drivers, and sexy girls assembling for a street race.

The Apu Trilogy

The Apu Trilogy. Satyajit Ray, 1955-1959.

😿😿

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray box set #782, released 2015. Bengali language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime of feature films approximately 341 minutes.

The Criterion package includes interesting supplemental materials along with Ray’s important trilogy:

Pather Panchali (1955)

Aparajito (1956)

Apur Sansar (1959)

Pather Panchali

Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road). Satyajit Ray, 1955.

😿

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #783, included in box set #782 The Apu Triology, released 2015. Bengali language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: Physical abuse to kittens.

Details:

1) The aging old “Auntie” intentionally throws her big filthy fabric bag full of crap on top of a kitten, completely covering it, 11:28. The camera stays on the bag through 11:33 and we do not see the kitten emerge.

2) Immediately afterwards and through 11:38, she steps from the front door of the house and pointlessly picks up another kitten and hurls him down into the dirt.

Auntie is a complex and confusing character in this first film of the The Apu Trilogy. Despite the reverence shown for her advanced age, she feels overly entitled and makes no effort to contribute to the family that supports her. She is genuinely kind to young Apu and his sister, to the point that the mother accuses Auntie of corrupting the girl by indoctrinating her to petty theft and lethargy. There is evidence of these character flaws taught by one generation to another, and Auntie’s pointless cruelty to the kittens indicates an underlying malicious and destructive personality, just as the mother accuses.

Aparajito

Aparajito (The Unvanquished). Satyajit Ray, 1955.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #784, included in box set #782 The Apu Triology, released 2015. Bengali language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of actual violence or harm to animals, but we do see a man who is later proven to be untrustworthy shove at a kitten with his lecherous looking shoes.

Apur Sansar

Apur Sansar (The World of Apu). Satyajit Ray, 1959.

😿😿

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #785, included in box set #782 The Apu Triology, released 2015. Bengali language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.

Summary: Pig injury; Killing of a bird.

Details:

1) We hear a pig squeal at 1:15:29 as a train is passing, with a cut to an injured, probably dying, pig lying beside the tracks. People rush to carry him away through 1:15:37.

2) Apu’s son kills a songbird with a slingshot. We see the bird lying dead at 1:22:10, and the boy messes with the body through 1:22:58.

Apu’s son, appearing at the end of this third film in “The Apu Trilogy,” shares qualities we saw in young Apu in the first film (Pather Panchali). During the bird-killing scene the boy wears a mask with a prominent mustache, then uses the dead bird as a ruse to steal food. This recalls young Apu’s targeting of a dog with an arrow (not actualized), wearing a fancy foil mustache, and the ongoing dramas of stealing food from neighbors.

Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus

Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus. Andrew Douglas, 2005.

😸

Edition screened: Home Vision DVD, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

This exploration into small-town life in the deep south is at times surprisingly truthful, at other times conspicuously disingenuous. Douglas’s depiction is suspiciously void of racism and animal abuse, both cherished components of traditional rural culture.

The Searchers

The Searchers. John Ford, 1956.
😿😿

Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 119 minutes.

Summary: Murdered animals.

Details:

1) Several cattle are found lying dead, killed by spears, 15:34-15:52.

2) John Wayne shoots one buffalo in a large herd and we see it fall dead at 1:09:42. He then fires insanely into the herd through 1:10:22, screaming something about ‘Guns Save Lives!’

3) A Native American camp has been raided, with dead horses lying about 1:11:20-1:11:38.

Sea of Love

Sea of Love. Harold Becker, 1989.

😸

Edition screened: Universal DVD released 1998. English language. Runtime approximately 153 minutes.

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

Scouting in Palestine

Scouting in Palestine (Sopralluoghi in Palestina per il vangelo secondo Matteo). Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1965.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #33, The Gospel According to Matthew, released 2012. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 54 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

While scouting locations around Palestine for the filming of The Gospel According to Matthew, Pasolini realized that he needed to shoot in Italy instead. The trip was valuable to the director for larger culturally preparatory reasons.

Score

Score. Radley Metzger, 1973.

😸

Edition screened: Cult Epics Blu-ray, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals. 2.5/5❤

The Science of Sleep

The Science of Sleep. Michel Gondry, 2006.

😸

Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 2007. English and French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Scent of a Woman

Scent of a Woman. Martin Brest, 1992.

😸

Edition screened: Universal DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 157 minutes.

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

The Scarlet Empress

The Scarlet Empress. Josef von Sternberg, 1934.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #109 included in box set # 930 Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.

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

Scarface

Scarface. Brian De Palma, 1983.

😸

Edition screened: Universal Blu-ray, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 170 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Saw III

Saw III. Darren Lynn Bousman, 2006.

😿

Edition screened: Included in Lions Gate Blu-ray set Saw: The Complete Movie Collection, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: Grinding of pig carcasses.

Details: A slaughterhouse-style conveyor chain delivers partially rotted pig carcasses into a grinder, 58:39-1:02:22. The decaying carcasses are not particularly realistic, and the disgusting part is that the ground-up putrid remains are dumped on a man in the bottom of a cement pit. Plot action continues through all this, and we get several views of the carcasses falling off the conveyor and into the grinder.

Saw II

Saw II. Darren Lynn Bousman, 2005.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Lions Gate Blu-ray set Saw: The Complete Movie Collection, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Saw

Saw. James Wan, 2004.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Lions Gate Blu-ray set Saw: The Complete Movie Collection, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan. Steven Spielberg, 1998.

😿

Edition screened: Paramount Blu-ray, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 169 minutes.

Summary: Depictions of dead animals.

Details:

1) Dead fish and human bodies after the massacre on Omaha Beach, 27:52-28:25.

2) The swollen bodies of dead cattle in a French pasture are used as cover by American soldiers advancing on a German bunker, 1:27:08-1:28:16.

The writers and director should be complimented for not indulging in the pointless shooting of domestic animals common in war films.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Karel Reisz, 1960.

😸

Edition screened: BFI Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.

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

This superb adaptation of Alan Sillitoe’s short novel is a defining example of Kitchen Sink Realism.

The Saragossa Manuscript

The Saragossa Manuscript (Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie). Jerzy Wojciech Has, 1965.

😿

Edition screened: Zebra/DMMS Blu-ray, released 2014. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 183 minutes.

Summary: A few scenes include hanging butchered pigs in the background, but there is no gore or depictions of butchering (30:56-32:30, and 3:01:00-3:01:11).

What a doozie. Like many films, this thing called the plot (from the Middle English plod: having a heavy gate) is a bit burdensome. But the detailed set designs, fabulous score, and dreamy images make the plod through the plot a joy.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)