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.

9 Songs

9 Songs. Michael Winterbottom, 2004.

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Edition screened: Tartan DVD, released 2005. English language. Runtime approximately 69 minutes.


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


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Bob Marley: One Love

Bob Marley: One Love. Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2024.

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Edition screened: Paramount Blu-ray, released 2024. English language. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.


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


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The Chicken

The Chicken. Roberto Rossellini, 1952.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #675 Journey to Italy in Blu-ray set #672, 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 16 minutes.


Summary: Ingrid Bergman gets into a battle of wills with a chicken. The chicken is briefly shut in a cupboard but not injured.


The Chicken was Rossellini’s contribution to the omnibus film Siamo donne.


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A Double Life

A Double Life. George Cukor, 1947.

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Edition screened: Olive DVD, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 104 minutes.


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


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The Dreaming

The Dreaming. Mario Andreacchio, 1988.

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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 77 minutes.


Summary: Mutilated sea lion.


Details: A decapitated and partially disemboweled sea lion is found on the beach, 1:04:08-1:04:13. Cathy drags the carcass into a pit she has dug in the sand and buries it, 1:05:11-1:05:30.


The The Dreaming BD in the Severin box set also includes Kadaicha (1988 James Bogle).


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Homicide

Homicide. David Mamet, 1991.

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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #486, released 2009. English language. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.


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


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Invincible Shaolin

Invincible Shaolin (Unbeatable Dragon/Nan Shao Lin yu bei Shao Lin). Chang Cheh, 1978.

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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.


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


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Joker

Joker. Todd Phillips, 2019.

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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2020. English language. Runtime approximately 122 minutes.


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


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Journey to Italy

Journey to Italy (Viaggio in Italia). Roberto Rossellini, 1954.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #675 included in 3-Blu-ray set #672, 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.


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


The Journey to Italy BD includes good supplemental material, all free of animal violence although Ingrid Bergman does handle a chicken awkwardly through the last part of The Chicken.

  • My Dad Is 100 Years Old (Guy Maddin short film, 2005)
  • The Chicken (Roberto Rossellini short film, 1952)
  • The Rossellinis on Capri (Swedish newsreel, 1953)
  • Surprised by Death (James Quadt, 2013 film essay)
  • Living and Departed (Tag Gallagher film essay)
  • Ingrid Bergman Remembered (Gene Feldman comments, 1995)
  • Rossellini Through His Own Eyes (Walter Hart comments, 1992)
  • Comments by critic Adriano Apra
  • An interview with twin sisters Ingrid and Isabella Rossellini
  • Comments by Martin Scorsese
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The Kid with the Golden Arm

The Kid with the Golden Arm (Jin bi tong). Chang Cheh, 1979.

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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.


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


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The Magnificent Ruffians

The Magnificent Ruffians (Mai ming xiao zi). Chang Cheh, 1979.

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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 106 minutes.


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


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My Dad Is 100 Years Old

My Dad Is 100 Years Old. Guy Maddin, 2005.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #675 Journey to Italy in Blu-ray set #672, 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 17 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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The Speech

The Speech (Le discours). Laurent Tirard, 2020.

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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2021. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 87 minutes.


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


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Ten Tigers of Kwangtung

Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (Guangdong shi hu xing yi wu xi). Chang Cheh, 1980.

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Edition screened: Included in the Arrow Blu-ray box set Shawscope: Volume Two, released 2022. Mandarin language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.


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


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Truth or Die

Truth or Die (Truth or Dare). Robert Heath, 2012.

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Edition screened: Salient DVD, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.


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


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