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 Russian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russian. Show all posts

The Cranes Are Flying

The Cranes Are Flying (Letyat zhuravli ). Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957.

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Edition screened: Criterion #146, released 2020. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.


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


The Criterion BD of this perfect film includes several interview segments and Patrick Cazals’ 74-minute documentary Hurricane Kalatozov.


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The Portrait

The Portrait (Portret). Wladyslaw Starewicz, 1915.

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Edition screened: Included with Witchhammer (Disc 4) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. Russian intertitles with English translations; No audio track. Runtime approximately 16 minutes.


Summary: No animals in the film.


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The Queen of Spades

The Queen of Spades (Pikovaya dama). Yakov Protazanov, 1916.

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Edition screened: Included with Witchhammer (Disc 4) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. Russian intertitles with English translations; No audio track. Runtime approximately 13 minutes.


Summary: No animals in the film.


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Satan Exultant

Satan Exultant (Satana likuyushchiy). Yakov Protazanov, 1917.

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Edition screened: Included with Witchhammer (Disc 4) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. No audio track. Runtime approximately 6 minutes.


Summary: No animals in the film.


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Viy

Viy (De dødes tjern). Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropachyov, 1967.

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Edition screened: Included with Witchhammer (Disc 4) in Severin Blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror, released 2021. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 76 minutes.


Summary: Striking a pig.


Details: As a young man beds down on a stack of hay at 10:54, he kicks a friendly pig confined in a neighboring stall in the head for no reason. Not hard enough to injure the animal, but reinforcing our multicultural tradition to treat these kind, intelligent animals with pointless brutality.


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Russian Lolita

Russian Lolita (Russkaya Lolita). Armen Oganezov, 2007.

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Edition screened: On line. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.


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


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Khrustalyov, My Car!

Khrustalyov, My Car! (Khrustalyov, Mashinu!). Aleksey German, 1998.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 148 minutes.


Summary: Rough handling of domestic animals, but no representations of those animals being injured.


Details:

1) At the beginning of the film, the teenage boy who likes 1950’s science and inventions has harnessed the family dog to the clothes line, as seen in a brief shot of the dog sailing through the cluttered apartment.

2) A large fish is stored in a bath tub, luring the cat to jump into the tub (off-screen). After the splash, the soaking white cat is scruffed and hand-squeegeed.


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Andrei Rublev

Andrei Rublev (Andrey Rublev). Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #34, released 2018. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 183 minutes.

Summary: Primitive brutality to animals.

Details:
1) We hear a dog howling as he is beaten to death below screen, 42:56-43:06, then see his body in the snow, through 43:14.
2) A dead and mauled goose, 48:02-48:16.
3) A trapped cow on fire during a battle, 1:45:50-1:46:05.
4) Long shot of an injured horse being killed, 1:50:08-1:50:15.
5) A horse with a broken leg falls down a flight of stairs, 1:52:51-1:53:11. We see him again at 1:53:25 unable to stand, then impaled through the throat, 1:53:35.

The Criterion BD also includes Tarkovsky’s 1960 family film The Steamroller and the Violin, as well as the original 205-minute cut of Andrei Rublev, The Passion According to Andrei, in which the cow and horse scenes mentioned above are slightly longer and more violent.  
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Red Mob

Red Mob (Chtoby vyzhit/To Survive). Vsevolod Plotkin, 1992.
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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #170, released 2017. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 113 minutes.

Summary: Indifference to animals.

Details:
1) Gratuitous display of, and hacking at, a roasted wild boar, 8:05-8:36.
2) Brief cock fighting scene, no blood or real violence, 35:54-35:57.
3) A tethered donkey is endangered, possibly injured, by an exploding car, 57:50-57:52.
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Solaris (Tarkovsky)

Solaris (Solyaris). Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray, released 2011. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 166 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
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The Steamroller and the Violin

The Steamroller and the Violin (Katok i skripka). Andrei Tarkovsky, 1960.
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Edition screened: Included on Criterion Blu-ray Andrei Rublev, released 2018. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 45 minutes.


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












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Zoology

Zoology (Zoologiya). Ivan I. Tverdovskiy 2016.
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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2017. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

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

Zoology is rife with animals and references to them. Frequently there is a tense feeling that some animal is about to be injured, but it doesn’t happen. A drawer full of mice are dumped out on the floor, and a family grieves over the death of a house cat we never see. That’s as bad as it gets.
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After Death

After Death. Evgeni Bauer, 1915.
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Edition screened: Included on Milestone DVD Mad Love: The Films of Evgeni Bauer, released 2002. Russian intertitles with English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 46 minutes.


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

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The Dying Swan

The Dying Swan (Umirayushchii lebed). Evgeni Bauer, 1917.
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Edition screened: Included on Milestone DVD Mad Love: The Films of Evgeni Bauer, released 2002. Russian intertitles with English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 49 minutes.

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

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In the Dark

In the Dark (V temnote). Sergei Dvortsevoy, 2004.
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Edition screened: Included on Icarus DVD One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich, released 2011. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 41 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A good exposé about an aging blind man and the lively cat with whom he shares his life and small apartment.
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Mad Love: The Films of Evgeni Bauer

Mad Love: The Films of Evgeni Bauer. Evgeni Bauer, 1913-1917.
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Edition screened: Milestone DVD, released 2002. Russian intertitles with English subtitles, no dialogue track. Cumulative runtime approximately 144 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Milestone DVD compiles three early romantic dramas by Bauer:

After Death (1915)

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Mirror (Tarkovsky)

Mirror (The Mirror/Zerkalo). Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray # 1084, released 2016. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 105 minutes.


Summary: Comparatively mild indications of bullfighting and chicken slaughter.


Details:

1) Vintage film clip of bullfighting, 37:40-37:47.

2) We hear a rooster killed just below camera and see feathers flying, 1:32:15-1:32:50.

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Three Songs About Motherland

Three Songs About Motherland (Tri pesni o Rodine). Marina Goldovskaya, 2008.
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Edition screened: Included on Icarus DVD One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich, released 2011. Russian language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 39 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.
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Twilight of a Woman’s Soul

Twilight of a Woman’s Soul. Evgeni Bauer, 1913.
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Edition screened: Included on Milestone DVD Mad Love: The Films of Evgeni Bauer, released 2002. Russian intertitles with English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 48 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.
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The Man with a Movie Camera

The Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s kino-apparatom). Dziga Vertov, 1929.
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Edition screened: Flicker Alley Blu-ray, released 2015. Scored with English subtitles, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 68 minutes.

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

In addition to a beautiful restoration of The Man with a Movie Camera, the Flicker Alley Blu-ray also includes four other works by Vertov:

Kino-Eye (1924)
Three Songs About Lenin (1934)
Kino-Pravada #21 (1925)

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