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.

A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place. John Krasinski, 2018.
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Edition screened: Paramount Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: Raccoons killed by monster.

Details: Very fast depiction of two raccoons overwhelmed by a monster, 21:45, leaving only a bloody smear where the raccoons where.
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Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn. Werner Herzog, 2006.
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Edition screened: MGM Blu-ray, released 2007. English language. Runtime approximately 126 minutes.

Summary: Asian jungle antics.

Details:
1) A huge flying insect is tied to a string and dangled over Christian Bale’s face, 19:57-20:39.
2) Christian Bale catches a large snake at 1:48:40 and wrangles it pretty impressively. He then kills it  with his mouth  1:49:10 through 1:49:34.

Herzog’s direction and Bale’s acting in this sequence are excellent. We see Bale wrangle the large, real snake and prepare to bite into its midsection. There is a cutaway to water for a few seconds, then we return to Bale tearing strips off of a very realistic fake snake, string cheese style. Bale subtly manipulates the fake snake to make it seem alive.


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Revenge (Fargeat)

Revenge. Coralie Fargeat, 2018.
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Edition screened: Universal Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: Insect torture.

Details:
1) Close-up, slow motion documentation of an ant overwhelmed by comparatively huge drops of blood that come crashing down.
2) One idiotic hunter throws the bloody carcass of some poor animal onto the windshield of the SUV in which another idiotic hunter is sleeping.
3) Idiotic hunter #2 kills a spider who was just minding his own business by urinating on him, driving the spider into the sand and drowning/pummeling it with urine.


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The Ring Two (Nakata)

The Ring Two. Hideo Nakata, 2005.
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Edition screened: Dreamworks “unrated edition” DVD #, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 128 minutes.

Summary: Computer generated deer attack. 

Details:
1) CGI deer attack a Jetta containing two passengers, starting at 44:04 and concluding with a major head-on car/deer collision 44:40-44:50. 
2) All the fish in the aquarium are dead, 47:07-47:13.


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The Ring (Verbinski)

The Ring. Gore Verbinski, 2002.
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Edition screened: Paramount DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.

Summary: Recurring newspaper images of dead horses, and one upsetting horse death.

Details:
1) Nightmare images of dead horses at a shore line, and a corresponding newspaper photo appear recurrently: 25:38-25:42; 34:35-34:48; 43:55-44:12; and 1:45:41.  These are vague and not graphic.
2) A frantic horse jumps off a ferry into the ocean at 58:00, also tripping on the railing. We see him struggling and drowning through 58:15 and blood in the water through 58:40.


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Ringu (Nakata)

Ringu. Hideo Nakata, 1998.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set Ringu Collection, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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Ringu 0: Birthday

Ringu 0: Birthday (Ringu 0: Bâsudei). Norio Tsurauta, 2000.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set Ringu Collection, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 99 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Ringu 2 (Nakata)

Ringu 2. Hideo Nakata, 1999.
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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set Ringu Collection, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
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Ringu Collection

Ringu Collection. Various directors, 1998-2000.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray set, released 2019. Japanese language with English subtitles. Collective runtime of four feature films approximately 387 minutes.

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

The Arrow set includes a wealth of interviews and bonus material in addition to the four Japanese features:

Ringu (1998 Hideo Nakata)
Ringu 2 (1999 Hideo Nakata)
The Spiral (1998 Jôji Iida)
Ringu 0: Birthday (2000 Norio Tsuruta)


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The Rite (Bergman)

The Rite (The Ritual/Riten). Ingmar Bergman, 1969.
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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 75 minutes.

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

The Rite and Sawdust and Tinsel and share disc #18 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Centerpiece 2’).

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Ritual in Transfigured Time

Ritual in Transfigured Time. Maya Deren, 1946.
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Edition screened: Included on Mystic Fire DVD Maya Deren: Experimental Films, released 2002. No audio track. Runtime approximately 15 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
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Roma (Cuarón)

Roma. Alfonso Cuarón, 2018.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #1014, released 2018. Spanish language. Runtime approximately 136 minutes.

Summary: Gratuitous taxidermy.

Details:
1) Heads of former pet dogs mounted and displayed like trophies, 54:10 - 55:22.
2) An enormous quantity of taxidermy specimens displayed among Christmas decorations, 57:18-59:10.

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Rust Never Sleeps

Rust Never Sleeps. Neil Young (as Bernard Shakey), 1978.
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Edition screened: BMG DVD, released 2002. English language. Runtime approximately 116 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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