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.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Zeman)

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Baron Prášil). Karel Zeman, 1961.
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Edition screened: Second Run Blu-ray #006, released 2017. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: There are a few animations or special effects of horses and riders falling fantastically great distances, but always with evidence that they landed safely.
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Factotum

Factotum. Bent Hamer, 2005.
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Edition screened: IFC DVD, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

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


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Family Star

Family Star (The Mutt & Jeff Icecream Sundae and Mothman). Jeff Keen, 1969.
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Edition screened: Twin-screen production, included in BFI Gazwrx: The Films of Jeff Keen Blu-ray/DVD set, released 2009. Scored and/or with sound effects track. Runtime approximately 31 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
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Fanny and Alexander: Television version

Fanny and Alexander: Television version (Fanny och Alexander). Ingmar Bergman, 1983.
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Edition screened: Included as #262 in Criterion 3-Blu-ray set #261 Fanny and Alexander; also included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Approximately 320 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The ‘Television version’ (the shorter version) of Fanny and Alexander is on disc #27 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Closing Night’).

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Fårö Document

Fårö Document (Fårödokument). Ingmar Bergman, 1970.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 58 minutes.

Summary: Sheep slaughtering

Details:
1) Graphic documentation of sheep slaughtered and gutted on a farm, 10:20-13:50.
2) A long sequence of lambs being born, 26:16-31:04. Obviously these are not violent or abusive scenes, but we didn’t want to watch.

Fårö Document is on disc #11 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Opening Night’), along with Fårö Document 1979 and two short films, Daniel (1967) and Karin’s Face (1984). 

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Fårö Document 1979

Fårö Document 1979 (Fårödokument 1979). Ingmar Bergman, 1979.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.

Summary: Recurring animal slaughter

Details:
1) Typical fishing gore of removing hooks from gasping, dying fish, 51:35-52:26.
2) A long sequence of a gentle pig being murdered and butchered, 1:05:23-1:13:14. As with similar scenes in Italian film, the men involved in this ritual seem to enjoy it a little too much, with lots of chuckling and finger wiggling in heaps of entrails. (To easily skip all this, just jump ahead to the next chapter when you see nice piggie being led out of the barn. This will put you at the beginning of the ‘Seaweed Harvest’ sequence, with nothing missed.)
3) Typical domestic fish cleaning, 1:21:45-1:23:00.
4) Commercial salmon fishing showing life on board, followed by hauling in and gutting 1:40:55-1:41:51.

Fårö Document 1979 is on disc #11 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Opening Night’), along with Fårö Document (1970) and two short films, Daniel (1967) and Karin’s Face (1984). 


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Fata Morgana

Fata Morgana. Werner Herzog, 1971.
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Edition screened: Included in BFI The Werner Herzog Collection Blu-ray box set, released 2014. German language with English subtitles or overdub. Runtime approximately 77 minutes.

Summary: Mishandling of a young fox.

Details:
1) Withered animal carcasses, mostly cows, in the desert 25:27-27:14.
2) A young and very calm white fox is presented by a boy at 28:14-28:43. We then see the boy holding the fox by the neck with its body hanging through 29:29. It looks like the beautiful little animal has been strangled except for slight body movement.
3) The little “pet” fox is dragged by his neck through the sand on a leash, 39:02-39:36.
4) More shriveled animal carcasses, 40:45-41:11. Longer and fouler images than the first time.

I would do almost anything to go back in time and rescue that beautiful, gentle little fox.
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Fay Grim

Fay Grim. Hal Hartley, 2006.
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Edition screened: Magnolia DVD, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 118 minutes.

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


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La Femme Nikita

La Femme Nikita (Nikita). Luc Besson, 1990.
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Edition screened: MGM DVD, released 2003. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.

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


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Festival: Folk Music at Newport, 1963-1966

Festival: Folk Music at Newport, 1963-1966. Murray Lerner, 1967.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.


Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.

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A Film Like Any Other

A Film Like Any Other (Un film comme les autres). Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1968.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Jean-Luc Godard + Jean-Pierre Gorin: Five Films, 1968-1971, released 2018. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.










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First Man Into Space

First Man Into Space. Robert Day, 1959.
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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #365, included in Monsters and Madmen box set #364, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 77 minutes.

Summary: Murdered cow.

Details: A cow lies dead while police and Navy officers discuss the gash on her neck, and then find a section of the crashed spacecraft under her head, 43:06-44:27.













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The First Man

The First Man. Danny Kuchuck, 1996.
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Edition screened: Included on Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #218 Blue Vengeance, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

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

An enjoyable and interesting mumblecore fiction about alien invaders and the ways they control human minds. The First Man has a pleasingly calm pace, good acting, and offers a thought-provoking twist on a common premise.


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Flesh and Bullets

Flesh and Bullets. Carlos Tobalina (as Efrain Tobalina), 1970.
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Edition screened: Included in Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #202, 5 Films • 5 Years Vol 2: Horror and Exploitation, released 2018; also released previously as VS# 089. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. 1.5/5❤
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Flesh and Laces (Parts I & II)

Flesh and Laces (Parts I & II). Carlos Tobalina, 1983.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #221, released 2018. English language. Total runtime approximately 189 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 1.5/5❤

Part I runs approximately 1:37, Part II runs approximately 1:32.

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Fleshpot on 42nd Street

Fleshpot on 42nd Street. Andy Milligan, 1973.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #270, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.


Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 1/5❤

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The Flight of the Phoenix

The Flight of the Phoenix. Robert Aldrich, 1965.
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Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #149, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 142 minutes.

Summary: Shooting of a camel

Details: A band of nomadic ne’er-do-wells has left a lame camel to die. James Stewart grabs the only pistol and shoots it a few times at 1:43:55, not so much because he doesn’t want the camel to suffer but more because he’s just so dang mad. The dopey guys at base camp hear the shots through 1:44:05, and we see the dead camel in the background through 1:44:12. Nothing graphic except for Ernest Borgnine’s acting.

The pet monkey we meet early in the film survives throughout and is a good sport about everything.

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Flik Flak

Flik Flak. Jeff Keen, 1965.
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Edition screened: Included in BFI Gazwrx: The Films of Jeff Keen Blu-ray/DVD set, released 2009. Scored and/or with sound effects track. Runtime approximately 3 minutes.


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

The Florida Project. Sean Baker, 2017.
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Edition screened: Lionsgate Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 111 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
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For the First Time

For the First Time (Por primera vezi). Octavio Cortázar, 1967.
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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #543 Modern Times, released 2010. Spanish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 9 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A remote Cuban village is visited by two men who own a portable movie projection set-up including a generator and modest sound equipment. They interview a few people who have never seen a film before, visit the school, then screen Modern Times that evening. 
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From: First Hymn to the Night - Novalis

From: First Hymn to the Night - Novalis. Stan Brakhage, 1994.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set #518 By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes One and Two, released 2010. Silent. Runtime 2 minutes, 52 seconds.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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From the Life of the Marionettes

From the Life of the Marionettes (Aus dem Leben der Marionetten). Ingmar Bergman, 1980.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

From the Life of the Marionettes is on disc #9 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Centerpiece 1’), along with Hour of the Wolf.


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The Front Page

The Front Page. Lewis Milestone, 1931.
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Edition screened: Included with Criterion Blu-ray #849 His Girl Friday, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film.
















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Frontier Marshal

Frontier Marshal. Allan Dwan, 1939.
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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray My Darling Clementine, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 71 minutes.

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















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Fugitive Girls

Fugitive Girls (Five Loose Women). Stephen Apostolof (as A.C. Stephen), 1974.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #204, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 1.5/5❤

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Fultah Fisher’s Boarding House

Fultah Fisher’s Boarding House (The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding House). Frank Capra, 1921.
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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #736 It Happened One Night, released 2014. Scored and with English intertitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.

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


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