MovieChat Forums > Fehér isten (2014) Discussion > Not too impressed with this...

Not too impressed with this...

posted 10 years ago by makloda11
28 replies | jump to latest

Just saw this yesterday in Budapest with English subtitles. I went in with high expectations considering this is a highly anticipated film but left the theater with a notion of being let down a bit. The weird dialogues don't help either. The character of the protagonist's father in particular seems to be horribly scripted. At times you're left wondering what the producers are trying to tell you.

Is this a tale of/against animal cruelty? Or is the the whole thing a metaphor of discrimination, uprising, violence and peace? Or is it trying to be both?

I think the producers tried to be a little bit of everything (teenager love story, teenage daughter vs. father, animal rights, metaphorical story of riots and uprising of the discriminated). It's a little bit of everything but just scores B- in every discipline. I think the movie could have been so much more if it focused on 2 subthemes and went into depth, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

This gets a solid 5/10 from me. Unfortunately not more. Compare this to the excellent Hungarian "Kontroll" by Nimrod Antal and you'll realize this is an effort that's just average.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] minumero 9 years ago

You just don't get it. It's ok. Some of us do. There's no parable, or parallel plots. How on Earth was Cujo a revenge fantasy?!?! And how is Haggen targeting those who mistreated him fantasy? You are living a fantasy if you think Haggen could not hear a whole symphony orchestra blasting the one song he has heard 1000's of times from Lili.

One pretty much has to be as deep as a kiddie pool to not understand the common theme of White Dog and White God. Neither of them have anything to do with animal rights.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] carlosdpires-810-118144 8 years ago

I watched the movie with friends on a our first "movie-to-discuss-night". ... if you focus on the basic ideas: How a good nature can be turned bad and how it can never return to it´s original kindness. How a group of individuals (dogs) in this case can act as a one; The force of the violence of a "gang"; The reveange between dogs and humana it´s a mather of turning the table and the equilibrium of the forces.
Whathever .. the film made sense to me... and can use all the metaphore to made you think about society...

[–] Martin_Stett 8 years ago

Agree, movie is disjointed. It starts out as a realistic parable, with parallel plots depicting the girl and the dog encountering similar harshness of human society (abuse, indifference, cruelty, corruption, etc.). But in the last act the movie suddenly turns into a Steven King, revenge fantasy, recalling Cujo. Dogs specifically targeting those who mistreated Hagan, breaking into the concert hall and finding Lili at the abattoir is unrealistic fantasy.

While I don't think the ending is meant to be taken realistically in the sense that this would happen in reality, it makes sense for the story to go there (although the ending was terribly predictable).

Frankly, I despised the movie for the reasons you mention: the parallel stories work okay, but it gets so over the top at the end. I have no idea what the writers were attempting to say. Don't mistreat people 'cause they may turn into terrorists?

Tell me more about the crocodiles and that tying the ass to the tree thing.

[–] nfaust1 9 years ago

makioda11, reading your comments, I don't think you understood this movie.

Look, "Is this a tale of/against animal cruelty? Or is the the whole thing a metaphor of discrimination, uprising, violence and peace? Or is it trying to be both?" Why does the movie have to be just one of these things? Why not all?

But more importantly, you characterize the girl's story using stock formulas to describe what you saw, and never mention the very obvious editing where Hagen's circumstances are played against the girl's, making it quite obvious that Hagen's loss of innocence corresponds and explains the girl's coming of age. There was no "teenager love story" in this movie.