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.

Conduct Phase

Conduct Phase. Peter Strickland, 1996.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Artificial Eye Blu-ray The Duke of Burgundy, released 2015. Scored, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 6 minutes.


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


A short film shot on Super 8 in Greece in 1996 among the stray dog community in a village south of Athens.


at
Labels: ,

Barb Wire

Barb Wire. David Hogan, 1996.

😸

Edition screened: Mill Creek Blu-ray, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.


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


at
Labels: , ,

Blue Collar

Blue Collar. Paul Schrader, 1978.

😸

Edition screened: Information provided by our Senior Correspondent. English language. Runtime approximately 114 minutes.


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



A bar scene featuring Harvey Keitel shows a 1976 Bally Night Rider, a 1977 Gottlieb Big Hit, and a 1977 Stern Raw Hide.


at
Labels: , ,

The Duke of Burgundy

The Duke of Burgundy. Peter Strickland, 2014.

😿

Edition screened: Artificial Eye Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.


Summary: Many scenes of butterflies pinned to specimen boards. These shots often are pans of a large quantity of seemingly identical butterflies pinned closely together in neat grids. There are no scenes of hunting, killing, or mounting the butterflies.


The Artificial Eye BD also includes Strickland’s 1996 short film Conduct Phase.



at
Labels: , ,

Game 6

Game 6. Michael Hoffman, 2005.

😸

Edition screened: Hart Sharp DVD, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.


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


at
Labels: , ,

The Initiation of Sarah

The Initiation of Sarah. Robert Day, 1978.

😸

Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2022. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.


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


at
Labels: , , ,

Memories of Murder

Memories of Murder (Salinui chueok). Bong Joon-ho, 2003.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #1073, released 2021. Korean language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 131 minutes.


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

 

The Criterion BD also includes Bong’s student film Incoherence, recommended.


at
Labels: , ,

Obsessions: A Hole in the Wall

Obsessions: A Hole in the Wall (Bezeten - Het gat in de muur). Pim de la Parra, 1969.

😸

Edition screened: Included on Cult Epics The Dutch Sex Wave Collection, released 2017. English dub. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.


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


at
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)