LiveWire Film Critics Sam Bolton and Adam Bircher review White God…
Kornél Mundruczó attempts an oxymoronic combination of world cinema and B-Movies with White God, a self-proclaimed dog empowerment story that follows Hagen, a suburban dog that finds himself abandoned in a hostile, uncaring city. The film tracks his descent into violence, independence and eventual loss of innocence, before rallying his fellow canines into a revolution against the oppressive force of man.
If it were only this, I probably would have enjoyed this film a lot more. The dogs in this film were incredibly well trained, and, dare I say it, acted very well. There were some scenes that were incredibly intense, and this was largely due to the dogs’ performance. I’m not sure who is to be congratulated, the Director, dog trainers, or editor for choosing the right moments to convey those feelings of intensity. However 50% of the run time of this film was dedicated to the human characters (of Hagen’s owner Lili and her father), and I did find their relationship rather underwritten, and their chemistry a little forced.
This film contains a huge helping of cinema cliches, however I believe this was intentional. The ludicrousness of the plot and some of the dialogue (my favourite being “the dog’s seemed to have formed an army”) suggested to me that this was a comedy, perhaps a satire on the modern cinematic blockbuster. My primary problem with this is that I didn’t find the film very funny. It had that air of clinical detachment found often in independent European cinema (shaky camera, little non-diegetic sound, understated and muted performances), which is all well and good when tackling a serious drama. It does not work quite as well in a film about revolting dogs, where one sequence hints at the canine assailants being fought off with a FLAMETHROWER. I love B-Movie over-the-top action, however it didn’t gel particularly well with the cinematic style of the film up to that point. One thing I strongly value in filmmaking is aesthetic unity, when the style of the film perfectly complements its themes. Here, I found the gulf in style and content a little jarring.
Other than this, the film is fantastically well filmed. The camera would move into a beautiful shot, rather than just cut to one (a gripe of mine), and the editing was well paced, and no shot was milked for too long, or cut off too short. It was definitely proficiently done, and I will probably check out this Director’s next work, purely for his keen eye for subtle and effective visuals. The score complements various action scenes well, in the sense that it was melodramatic and over the top. If I am right in my analysis that this is a satirical comedy, then this was a great choice of score.
Overall, White God is a difficult film to critically assess, mainly because it is poking fun at the genre it exists within. I would recommend White God on the dog’s performances alone. If you want an in-depth analysis of the coming of age of a lost, alone, and vulnerable soul, who learns to toughen up and fight back against the powers that be, then White God would not be a waste of your time.
White God (15) is currently screening at Cornerhouse.