Violence to Animals in Film: September 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.

Rushmore

Rushmore. Wes Anderson, 1998.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #65, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

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

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Royal Tenenbaums. Wes Anderson, 2001.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #157, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 110 minutes.

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

Rounders

Rounders. John Dahl, 1998.

😸

Edition screened: Miramax DVD, released 1999. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Roswell: The U.F.O. Cover-Up

Roswell: The U.F.O. Cover-Up. Jeremy Kagan, 1994.

😸

Edition screened: Republic DVD, released 2002. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

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

This X-files type film is much more enjoyable than one might presume.

Rosetta

Rosetta. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1999.

😿

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #621, released 2012. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: Mild fishing violence.

Details: Two scenes show a worm being hooked on a homemade fishing wire, and then a fish having the wire removed from its mouth. The images are quick and not gratuitous, focusing on the distress of the impoverished girl fishing rather than on “sport,” and occur 12:08-13:06 and 56:40-57:12.

Rosemary’s Baby

Rosemary’s Baby. Roman Polanski, 1968.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #630, released 2011. English language. Runtime approximately 136 minutes.

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

Rope

Rope. Alfred Hitchcock, 1948.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Universal Blu-ray box set Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

Room at the Top

Room at the Top. Jack Clayton, 1959.

😸

Edition screened: Kino/Lorber Blu-ray, released 2020. English language. Runtime approximately 117 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Ronin

Ronin. John Frankenheimer, 1998.

😸

Edition screened: MGM DVD, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Another enjoyable and exciting film from the great Frankenheimer, despite seeming at times to be a 2-hour advertisement for Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

Romance

Romance. Catherine Breillat, 1999.

😸

Edition screened: Trimark DVD released 2000. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals. 3/5❤

Roma

Roma. Federico Fellini, 1972.

😿

Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #86, released 2014. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 120 minutes.

Summary: Mild meat processing.

Details: Two men carry several skinned calf carcasses suspended between poles, 1:20:35-1:20:40.

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1968.

😸

Edition screened: Abkco DVD, released 2004. English language. Runtime approximately 63 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence toward animals.

Rollerball

Rollerball. Norman Jewison, 1975.
😸

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 125 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Rock ’n’ Roll High School

Rock ’n’ Roll High School. Allan Arkush, 1979.

😿😿

Edition screened: New Concorde DVD, released 2001. English language with Gabba Gabba Hey. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: Inappropriate handling of a mouse.

Details:

1) Mary Woronov handles a white mouse very roughly, 19:11-20:00, swinging it by the tail while she talks with her hands. There is a brief return to this, 23:03-23:14.

2) The mouse’s cage begins to shake violently at 24:05, simulating the vibrations of loud music, until the smoke-bang suggestion that the mouse has exploded at 24:20. Despite the popularity of referencing “exploding white mice,” there is no actual depiction of a mouse exploding, nor would such a visual effect fit in the intentionally silly and innocent Rock ’n’ Roll High School.

Rock ’n’ Roll High School is popularly quoted and noted for five reasons:

• the spurious exploding white mice.

• the entertaining presence of P.J. Soles, Mary Woronov, and Paul Bartel.

• the disconcerting presence of Clint Howard.

• performances by The Ramones.

• the only filmed performance of Marla Rosenfield, who steals every scene in which her minor character ‘Cheryl’ appears. Vidcap of Herself thanks to Aveleyman!

Bally Op-Pop-Pop backstage with The Ramones.

Robin and the 7 Hoods

Robin and the 7 Hoods. Gordon Douglas, 1964.
😸

Edition screened: Warner DVD, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 123 minutes.

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

Riot in Cell Block 11

Riot in Cell Block 11. Don Siegel, 1954.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #704, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 80 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animal animals …

Ringers: Lord of the Fans

Ringers: Lord of the Fans. Carlene Cordova, 2005.

😸

Edition screened: Sony ‘Special Edition’ DVD, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

Rigoletto (Verdi/Deflo)

Rigoletto (Verdi). Gilbert Deflo, 2006.

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Edition screened: Arthaus Musik Blu-ray, released 2012. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 128 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Ride with the Devil

Ride with the Devil. Ang Lee, 1999.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #514, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 148 minutes.

Summary: A few incidents of horses falling during battle scenes, but no depicted injury to the animals.

Ride in the Whirlwind

Ride in the Whirlwind. Monte Hellman, 1966.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #734, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

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

The Criterion Blu-ray also includes the companion film The Shooting.

The Return of the Living Dead

The Return of the Living Dead. Dan O’Bannon, 1984.

😿

Edition screened: Second Sight Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: Beating of a reanimated lab specimen.

Details: A taxidermy split dog is found on the floor at 17:15, reanimated at 17:20, beat with a crutch at 17:35, and the scene is over at 17:42. By Balthazar’s standard of ‘depictions that could be upsetting,’ the dog is fur-side-up during the beating, thus looking like a real fuzzy puppy, and it yelps in pain due to its reanimated state.

Return of Daimajin

Return of Daimajin (Daimajin 2/The Wrath of Daimajin/Majin Grows Angry). Kenji Misumi, 1966.

😸

Edition screened: Included in Mill Creek Daimajin Triple Feature 2-Blu-ray set, released 2012. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 78 minutes.

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

Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream. Darren Aronofsky, 2000.

😸

Edition screened: Lions Gate ‘Director’s Cut’ Blu-ray, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

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