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.

Tales from the Golden Age

Tales from the Golden Age (Amintiri din epoca de aur). Various directors & written by Christian Mingiu, 2009.
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Edition screened: Trinity DVD, released 2009. Romanian language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime of six shorts, approximately 140 minutes.

Summary: The plot of “The Greedy Policeman” is an ill-fated attempt to discreetly butcher a pig in a small apartment. We do not see the pig killed or badly injured, but he is handled roughly 7:45-10:00, and most of the dialogue and action from that point forward is about a ridiculous method to kill and butcher the gentle pig.

That offense aside, Tales from the Golden Age includes six funny and well-acted short films about life in Romania during the last 15 years of Ceauşescu's regime. Each film is by a different director, with the first five sequenced consecutively and “The Zealous Activist” included as a bonus feature.

“The Legend of the Official Visit” (18:24)
“The Legend of the Party Photographer” (14:34)
“The Legend of the Chicken Driver” (31:14) - excellent!
“The Legend of the Air Sellers” (35:32)
“The Legend of the Greedy Policeman” (22:34)
“The Legend of the Zealous Activist” (17:40)
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