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 Finnish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finnish. Show all posts

A Witch Drum

A Witch Drum (Noitarumpu). Kari Kekkonen, 1982.

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Edition screened: Included with The White Reindeer (disc 3) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2, released 2024. Finnish language. Runtime approximately 10 minutes.


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



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The White Reindeer

The White Reindeer (Valkoinen peura). Erik Blomberg, 1952.
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Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #203, released 2019. Also included in the Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2, released 2024. Finnish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 74 minutes.

Summary: Some rough handling of the reindeer typical of livestock herding culture, but nothing intentionally cruel or violent.

The Masters of Cinema release also includes the 1947 short film With the Reindeer. 


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With the Reindeer

With the Reindeer (Porojen parissa). Erik Blomberg and Eino Mäkinen, 1947.
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Edition screened: Included with Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray #203 The White Reindeer, released 2019. Also included in the Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume 2, released 2024. Finnish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 7 minutes.

Summary: Some rough handling of the reindeer typical of livestock herding culture, but nothing intentionally cruel or violent.

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Total Balalaika Show

Total Balalaika Show. Aki Kaurismäki, 1994.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 29: Leningrad Cowboys 3-DVD set, released 2011. English, Finnish, and Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 57 minutes.

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

















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Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses

Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses. Aki Kaurismäki, 1994.
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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 29: Leningrad Cowboys 3-DVD set, released 2011. English and Finnish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 94 minutes.

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

Before watching Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989) and Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, I think I used the expressions “barely watchable” and “almost unwatchable” interchangeably. No longer, as I now understand that Go America deserves the far more flattering “barely watchable,” for with some effort and discomfort one can indeed sit through Go America, possibly aided by the fact that it is only 79 minutes long. Meet Moses, however, is truly “almost unwatchable” no matter what mental tricks or environmental luxuries one evokes to hasten the passing of one’s life.













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Leningrad Cowboys Go America

Leningrad Cowboys Go America. Aki Kaurismäki, 1989.

Edition screened: Included in Criterion Eclipse Series 29: Leningrad Cowboys 3-DVD set, released 2011. English and Finnish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 79 minutes.

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

See also (‘see’ as in compare to … not ‘see’ as in watch or must see) Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses.

















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Leningrad Cowboys

Leningrad Cowboys. Aki Kaurismäki, 1989-1994.
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Edition screened: Criterion Eclipse Series 29, 3-DVD set, released 2011. English, Finnish, and Russian language with English subtitles. Collective runtime approximately 230 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence toward animals.

This 29th volume in Criterion’s Eclipse Series includes

Total Balalaika Show (1994)

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