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.

Legong: Dance of the Virgins

Legong: Dance of the Virgins. Henri De La Falaise, 1935.
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Edition screened: Milestone DVD, released 2005. English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 55 minutes.

Summary: Mild cockfighting scenes.

Details:
1) A bird owner handles his roosters in preparation for fighting, 7:50-8:08.
2) A real cockfight takes place 13:15 - 14:23. We see birds charging and grappling a bit, but most of that time is spent on scenes of the village men cheering and betting.

Introductory screens explain that this restoration marks the first time since theatrical release that Legong has been available in its entirety, restoring the violence immediately removed in British prints and the nudity immediately censored in American prints. The ‘violence’ is just the mild cockfighting scenes mentioned above, deletion of which wouldn’t effect the film except possibly for viewers specifically interested in that topic who probably would be disappointed either way. The ‘nudity’ is merely topless women depicting daily Balinese life, with absolutely no sexual content or implication in the film. The bare breasted scenes are frequent, however, and deletion would have shortened the film and removed much of its meager plot.

The Milestone DVD also contains Henri De La Falaise’s Kliou the Killer (1936) and Nikola Drakulic’s Gods of Bali (1952).

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