NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS REVIEW // A REVIEW OF "WHITE GOD"
The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 44th edition of New Directors/New Films is being presented in New York City from March 18 – March 29. For 44 years New Directors/New Films has been an annual rite of early spring in New York City, bringing exciting discoveries from around the world to adventurous moviegoers. All aspects of cinema, from production to exhibition, have changed dramatically over the years, but the spirit of innovation and the element of surprise that have always defined this festival remain intact. Dedicated to the discovery of new works by emerging and dynamic filmmaking talent, this year’s festival will screen 26 international feature films and 16 short films.
We here at TheArtsWire Weekly are bringing you our take on the films we're screening during the festival.
Like a roller coaster that’s much more enjoyable once you know in your heart that a million other people have been on this ride and no one died, WHITE GOD is so much better when you know in your heart that no animals were harmed in the making of this movie. Without that belief and with the quality and creativity of the filmmaking--angles shot, camera techniques and filters used, tactful and precise editing--you’ll want to join PETA.
The first shot in this film alludes to so much of what this film is about. The opening credits fade and the lights come up on a beautiful intersection in urban Hungary. The story that unfolds over the next two hours speaks to the intersection between man and animal. In Kornél Mundruczó’s splendid feature, which won Un Certain Regard Prix at Cannes last year, we get the idea that that intersection is love. Though disturbing at times due to the violent, even horror-ific, situations involving the many dogs in this flick, White God is an ultimately touching tale.
Our protagonist, Lili (Zsófia Psotta) is a trumpet player in a relatively prestigious youth orchestra. She carries her horn around with her throughout the film and plays a few bars of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody to occasionally calm her dog, a “mixed-breed street mutt fleabag” named Hagen. As she comes from a broken home it seems this is the one creature on the planet that understands her and truly loves her back. Many people force their way between the girl and her dog, her father ultimately putting the kibosh on the relationship by leaving Hagen on the side of a busy street.
Depressed Lili slips into rebellious teen mode running with an older crowd and passing out at parties. Hagen forges head on into the life of a street dog, being social and dodging animal control with other street dogs, getting wrangled by evil men trying to make a buck dogfighting, trained and put into the ring, escaping and leading a pack of mongrels on a rampage of revenge on all of the humans that made him this way. At this point the movie goes from sweet sad tale of girl and dog to an almost absurd horror film. The footage of the dogs taking over the city is amazing--a true feat in filmmaking--and the chaos they cause is at times comical. Comical that is, if you can remember what I said about the roller coaster.
While the acting in this film (especially from Ms. Psotta) is stellar, the true stars are the dogs and their on-set trainers and handlers, of which the lists for both are longer than the cast list. Luke and Body play Hagen/Max and it’s almost unbelievable the level of control the trainers were able to pull from them. There are moments when you forget the actor you are watching isn’t human. The responses are real, in the moment, and evoke feeling in the audience. There are highly paid actors that possess none of those abilities. Plenty of moments however do remind us that the dogs are not human, like when they drink out of the puddle they just pissed in. There is a handful of other mutts that get some good on-screen time as part of Hagen’s gang and are obviously well-trained, too. Several minutes of the movie contain no humans at all. Just dogs. And they are full of character, development of short and long term relationships, creatures that are making choices and truly living in the moment.
Mundruczó’s team gathered almost 250 more pooches for the film. Wrangling unwanted street mutts from all over Budapest, training them, then using them in these colossal canine scenes, perhaps the most organized stampede of pups ever put on film, is truly a feat to be commended. Even more commendable is the fact that when the movie was wrapped, each and every one of these street dogs found a forever home. (Adoption is so much easier when the dog is clean and well-trained!) So that intersection of which you speak...yeah, where is that? The universal language of love? Kornél Mundruczó makes you want to look harder for it with White God.
VERDICT: MUST SEE
Written and Directed by Kornél Mundruczó Starring Luke Body, Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Szabolcs Thuróczy Rated R In Hungarian with English Subtitles
Playing as part of The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 44th New Directors/New Films Fest. For tickets: http://newdirectors.org/
FINAL THOUGHTS: The dogs’ revenge on all the evil people who lent a hand to send them to death row reads as the director’s scolding of anyone who has ever mistreated a dog, or thwarted love. And there, lurking in the shadows behind each of us is Max. Hagen. The star of the show.
W. DEREK JORDEN is an actor currently living and working in New York City. He and his wife live on a Spaceship on the top of a building, which makes for some interesting dinner parties.