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.

Story of a Love Affair

Story of a Love Affair (Cronaca di un amore). Michelangelo Antonioni, 1950.

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Edition screened: NoShame DVD, released 2005. Italian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.


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


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A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun. Daniel Petrie, 1961.

😸

Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #945, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 128 minutes.


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


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The Naked Fog

The Naked Fog. Joseph Sarno, 1966.

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Edition screened: Included in Film Movement’s Joseph W. Sarno Retrospect Series Vol. 5 Blu-ray, released 2023. English language. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.


Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 2.5/5❤


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Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch. John Cameron Mitchell, 2001.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #982, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.


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


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Dream Scenario

Dream Scenario. Kristoffer Borgli, 2023.

😿

Edition screened: Lionsgate Blu-ray, released 2024. English language. Runtime approximately 102 minutes.


Summary: Brief image of a seemingly dead dog lying on Nicolas Cage’s kitchen floor, around the 90 minute mark. Exact timing was not documented, but the brief image is not particularly distressing.


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The Boys in the Band (Friedkin)

The Boys in the Band. William Friedkin, 1970.

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Edition screened: Submitted by a friend. English language. Runtime approximately 118 minutes.


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







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