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.

Walden: Diaries, Notes and Sketches

Walden: Diaries, Notes and Sketches (excerpt). Jonas Mekas, 1964-1969.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #1164 The Velvet Underground, released 2022. No dialogue track. Runtime of this excerpt approximately 8 minutes.


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


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Violence in a Women’s Prison

Violence in a Women’s Prison (Violenza in un carcere femminile). Bruno Mattei, 1982.

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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle, released 2023. English language with original Italian as an option. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.


Summary: Depiction of killing a cockroach.


Details:

1) Around the 35 minute mark, Emmanuelle pushes at some black rats with her feet. The rats aren’t kicked or otherwise hurt.

2) Earlier in the film we see an inmate talking nicely to a cockroach that she keeps in a small cage made of toothpicks. At 1:02:50 the cage is smashed underfoot, presumably with the cockroach inside although we see no bug gore.


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Venus in Furs (Heliczer)

Venus in Furs. Piero Heliczer, 1965.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #1164 The Velvet Underground, released 2022. No dialogue track. Runtime approximately 22 minutes.


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


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Award Presentation to Andy Warhol

Award Presentation to Andy Warhol. Jonas Mekas, 1965.

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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray #1164 The Velvet Underground, released 2022. No dialogue track. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.


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


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