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.

Sex & Fury

Sex & Fury (Furyô anego den: Inoshika Ochô). Norifumi Suzuki, 1973.

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Edition screened: Discotek Media Blu-ray, released 2004. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 188 minutes.


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


The Discotek release surprised me with three or four on-screen interpretive comments, nicely positioned at the top of the screen in a discreet font. They provided two-sentence explanations of cultural references such as the koi-koi card game or a notorious Japanese anarchist. Appreciated and enjoyed.


I also enjoy spinning my wheels about how much I hate comic relief in film. Who is this audience that I’m told needs relief from - cannot bear another moment of - the tension or beauty or intrigue that binds the film together? Maybe it’s about that other kind of relief, the bodily kind, and gomer-goober scenes in a film are permissive cues for that audience sitting in the frequency-and-urgency section to turn their heads toward a companion, phony horse-teeth silent laugh while placing their hands on their thighs, extend that posture adjustment to a standing position with “I’ll just be a minute,” a quick shrug and more horse teeth as though something’s funny.


Sex & Fury stars Reiko Ike and Christina Lindberg in a B-level Lady Snowblade-style film. The cultural comments are the opposite of comic relief. You can turn off your brain, enjoy the topless swordplay, and allow Discotek’s good annotations to provide a little much-needed intelligent relief.


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