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.

Showing posts with label Czech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Czech. Show all posts

The Ninth Heart

The Ninth Heart (Deváté srdce). Juraj Herz, 1979.

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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2, released 2024. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Beauty and the Beast (Herz)

Beauty and the Beast (Panna a netvor). Juraj Herz, 1978.

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Edition screened: Included in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2, released 2024. Czech  language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.


Summary: Livestock slaughter and horses in distress.


Details:

1) At 6:04 — Be alert for this unexpected cut to a chicken being grasped and slaughtered, followed by a goat having its throat slit, a squealing pig dragged away by its ears, and the disgusting disembowelment of a hanging carcass - all through 6:26.  General cutting of meat, plucking of feathers, and similar through 7:23.

2) Horses in distress as they are stranded on a muddy cliff with flames erupting around them, 13:43-14:10.

3) A horse has died and lies on its side, 20:37-20:47.

4) The Beast on horseback runs down a doe, pursuing it through a lake, back onto land, and trampling it several times, 45:00-45:42.


Beauty and the Beast shares Disc #8 in the Severin set with the short Frantisek Hrubín (1964 Tomás Skrdlant) Herz’s The Ninth Heart (1979).


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Witchhammer

Witchhammer (Kladivo na carodejnice). Otakar Vavra, 1970.

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Edition screened: Included with Viy (Disc 4) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 107 minutes.


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


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Something Different

Something Different (O něčem jiném). Věra Chytilová, 1963.
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Edition screened: Included along with A Bagful of Fleas on Second Run DVD #106 Two Films by Věra Chytilová, released 2016. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.


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


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A Bagful of Fleas

A Bagful of Fleas (Pytel Blech). Věra Chytilová, 1962.
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Edition screened: Included along with Something Different on Second Run DVD #106 Two Films by Věra Chytilová, released 2016. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 43 minutes.


Summary: Childish shenanigans with dead mice.

Details: Two screaming giggly girls twirl a few dead mice around to terrorize the other screaming giggly girls, 31:52-32:52.

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The Fireman’s Ball

The Fireman’s Ball (Horí, má panenko). Miloš Forman, 1967.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 73 minutes.


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

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Black Peter

Black Peter (Černý Petr). Miloš Forman, 1963.
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Edition screened: Second Run Blu-ray #013, released 2018. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.


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

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A Boring Afternoon

A Boring Afternoon (Fádní odpoledne). Ivan Passer, 1964.
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Edition screened: Included on Second Run Blu-ray #012 Intimate Lighting, released 2018. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 14 minutes.

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

An excellent, subtle film.

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The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Zeman)

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Baron Prášil). Karel Zeman, 1961.
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Edition screened: Second Run Blu-ray #006, released 2017. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: There are a few animations or special effects of horses and riders falling fantastically great distances, but always with evidence that they landed safely.
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Intimate Lighting

Intimate Lighting (Intimní osvětlení). Ivan Passer, 1965.
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Edition screened: Second Run Blu-ray #012, released 2018. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 74 minutes.

Summary: Cruel murder of a chicken.

Details: A man guns his car into a flock of chickens just to be an ass at 16:48, with explicit footage of one of those chickens dying a painful death, 16:53-16:57.

The Second Run Blu-ray also includes Passer’s excellent film A Boring Afternoon (1964). 

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The Junk Shop

The Junk Shop (Sberné surovosti). Juraj Herz, 1965.
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Edition screened: Included on Second Run Blu-ray #009 The Cremator, released 2017. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 31 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.


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The Mass

The Mass (Omša). Dušan Hanák, 1967.
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Edition screened: Included on Second Run DVD #92 Pictures of the Old World, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
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Old Shatterhand Came to See Us

Old Shatterhand Came to See Us (Prisiel k nám Old Shatterhand). Dušan Hanák, 1966.
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Edition screened: Included on Second Run DVD #92 Pictures of the Old World, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

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Uncle (Jireš)

Uncle (Strejda). Jaromil Jireš, 1959.
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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray Valerie and Her Week of Wonders #761, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately minutes.

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



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The Valley of the Bees

The Valley of the Bees (Údolí vcel). František Vláčil, 1967.
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Edition screened: Second Run DVD #040, released 2010. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: Abuse of bats; hunting violence.

Details:
1) A beehive opening in a hollowed tree is decoratively carved and surmounted by a crucified bat, 3:05-3:09.
2) An open basket containing young bats is tossed to the ground, 5:07-5:11, and the bats are stepped on and killed 5:22-5:25. We do not see the lower half of the man doing the killing, just his intentions.
3) A training exercise for hunting/attack dogs begins with a small deer suspended in a harness, 1:08:25. The deer is turned loose, pursued, attacked, and killed through 1:09:42. The deer’s throat is slit, with a closeup of the blood draining, 1:10:48-1:11:14.

A good and artistic film despite the unfortunate animal violence.
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Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Valerie a týden divu). Jaromil Jireš, 1970.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #761, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 76 minutes.

Summary: Several animal deaths.

Details:
1) A 2-second typical depiction of a pig’s body impaled and roasting over a fire begins at 22:44.
2) A town’s central courtyard contains scattered dead chickens, the result of bird flu, beginning at 35:04 and lasting about 4 seconds.
3) At 47:20 we get the indication that a chicken’s neck is being bitten into vampirically, but we don’t see the action.
4) Beginning at 1:04:06 is a 4-second sequence in which a weasel attacks a chicken, then a man shoots the weasel.

The Criterion Blu-ray also contains three early short films by Jireš, all free of  violence to animals:
Uncle (1959)
Footprints (1960)
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The Hall of Lost Footsteps

The Hall of Lost Footsteps (Sál ztracených kroků). Jaromil Jireš, 1960.
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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray Valerie and Her Week of Wonders #761, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.


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


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Footprints

Footprints (Stopy). Jaromil Jireš, 1960.
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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray Valerie and Her Week of Wonders #761, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 12 minutes.

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



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Fruit of Paradise

Fruit of Paradise (Ovoce stromů rajských jíme). Vera Chytilová, 1969.
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Edition screened: Second Run DVD #095, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

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

The Second Run DVD also presents Chytilová’s Ceiling (1962).

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Closely Observed Trains

Closely Observed Trains (Closely Watched Trains/Ostre sledované vlaky). Jiří Menzel, 1966.
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Edition screened: Included on Arrow Blu-ray, released 2015. Czech language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: Rabbit killing and skinning.
Details:
1) A large rabbit screams at 14:26 as he is removed from his hutch and held upside-down. He is clubbed at 14:40 and we see him suspended with blood around his face  14:50-14:58.
2) Rabbit nailed to a wooden fence and being skinned, 1:02:04-1:02:10.
3) A woman calmly force-feeds a goose by hand in her cottage, 1:13:41-1:16:00. The goose certainly is not eating voluntarily, but the scene seems more perverse than violent if you don’t understand why she is doing this.

 @ BL
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