MovieChat Forums > One Nation Under Dog (2012) Discussion > Worst Documentary Ever Made?

Worst Documentary Ever Made?

posted 12 years ago by TheBeardedWonder
3 replies | jump to latest

What's the point of this documentary? The 1st sequence paints dogs as evil based on 3-4 incidents, all from ONE family of dogs (most coming from one specific dog even). It's akin to putting together a list of 3-4 robberies committed by one race and saying 'they're all thieves!'

Then we have people crying over the loss of their pets. Yes, people love their pets, we know. What's new? Did anyone out there seriously NOT know that? Then as an extension of that, we get a crazy couple who cloned their dog. I personally find the other stuff people spend $150k on even crazier, but oh well. Wait, it's over? We barely got to - oh - onto the next dog story.

Then, we get a lady who has a private shelter, who... ya know what, forget it. It seems we never get more than a couple moments with each of these stories, not nearly enough to build up any real amount of empathy or interest, so why even bother explaining the rest. It's not even close to enough time to make a connection with the story, which is one of the main tenets of a successful documentary.

Maybe it's different for me since i've been a pet owner literally since birth (usually just dogs/cats, nothing crazy), but none of this is new info nor old info presented in an entertaining way. When a documentary does neither of those, it's a failure I believe. Shame because HBO has some of the best docs out there, but this was a big miss in my opinion...

PS: The whole 'dogs being put to sleep' sequence was sad, there's no doubt about that, but ultimately it's a needed procedure to ensure the quality of life for the other dogs/animals/people out there. It came off more as exploitative and cheap than informative here, and I honestly expect more from HBO films. All you can do is give YOUR pet a great life until it's inevitable end, that's the point of having a dog, not the millisecond of (possible) pain when it goes from alive to dead...

"dude i dont care i just love this movie you guys have a realy taste in movies what wrong with you"

[–] mouselady1 11 years ago

I think the whole point of the euthanasia scene was for people to realize it's not a trauma free scenario. The dogs are aware for a full minute that they can't breathe and are dying. I'm sure most lay people just think they go to sleep and die (as is used with a narcotics overdose at a veterinarian's office). I agree that it is a necessary evil, but if more people realized the intensity of it, it might generate more interest in adoption.

I'm not crazy, M'lynn. I've just been in a very bad mood for 40 years!

[–] hodie 11 years ago

The answer always seems to be that responsible people have to clean up after irresponsible ones.
I got purebreads from a professional breeder. As a new dog owner I wanted to be as sure as possible what I was getting.

"Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

[–] TheManInOil 11 years ago

It's just showing different aspects of the relationship our society has with dogs. It's not trying to push an agenda. It's inviting people to consider all of these things that most of us don't think about on a day-to-day basis.

You seem to believe that a documentary is meant to be propaganda, promoting some single point of view, rather than information presented to invite discussion. You are wrong.

"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."