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Reviewed by Nicolas Woosley Directed and written by Michael Ozias, released in 2016, 1hr 29min Of Dogs and Men is a film that details the stories of several individuals who had their dogs’ lives taken at the hands of police. It presents a strong, intense message and is powerful and heartbreaking right from the first seconds. This is not a film for someone who wants to hear nice stories about one of the most beloved animals in the United States. However, someone who wants to understand the truths of American society, the issues with animals that are often ignored with each passing day and finish with a silver lining and a ray of hope will find that this film fits just that narrative. This film can be found and watched on Kanopy.com and can also be found on the website ofdogsandmen.net. The film is entirely interview based, with no true narrator. It is told with lots of police cam footage and home videos of scenes from the stories the interviewers tell. Not a single interview about an incident was conducted without video evidence to support it. While the raw videos certainly made the film harder to watch, it was absolutely a necessity for them to be shown. I would advise children to potentially not watch this movie, as there are graphic scenes. There is a much higher level of understanding that comes with seeing something rather than simply hearing it. The film has two distinct interview types. There are interviews of the victims which are done from in and around their homes, and professionally constructed interviews to outside individuals who are important in the situations. The contrast of setting and professionalism does a great job highlighting what it is to be a victim of these police brutality events and to be merely someone trying to understand. The interviewees in the professional setting have not dealt with a tragic event like the people who are interviewed at their homes have. The average viewer has the same perspective as the people interviewed in the professional setting, but this is where the film excels. Ozias does an excellent job jumping back and forth from each type of interview, to create a constant reminder of how each side views the events. The interviews are staggered so that each story is told in the same order of events. You see the victims remember everything from their relationship with their dogs through mourning them and being forced to move on.
The film concludes with the victims reflecting on how they are proud of their dogs and happy with the fact that their dogs helped create a change, even if it meant losing their lives. There has been change as well, and the movie spends time explaining it. One of the interviewees, David Balmer, used stories such as these to help pass a mandatory police training bill in the state of Colorado. This part of the documentary was a nice change of pace from the rest. To hear change was being made was especially refreshing, which I believe was set up by the earlier portions of the film. The film does a fair job representing the dogs as equal to people, specifically the people that shared their lives with them. It understands that lives are in fact being taken in these situations and treats them just as seriously as if it were a human animal being killed. I also enjoyed the fact that whenever the film switched to a different interviewee it would show their name and the dog they had lived with. This served as a constant reminder of who the person was and the relationship they had lost. I thought that the film did an excellent job conveying the message that it wanted to get across. The use of interviews to serve as the entire script and a good amount of the film being actual footage of the events helped with this enormously. There were many major figures in this movie, anyone who gave an interview had a major role in explaining the event or providing an insight in a part of the film. This can make it hard to watch if not done correctly, since if someone were to watch it only once it would be lots of names to remember in a short time. As I mentioned earlier, this is something that the film does a good job fixing by showing the names of the speakers each time they speak. This film is well organized and executed beautifully. There are no chapters, no transition breaks. It is seamless storytelling from beginning to end. Carefully stitched together in a flowing manner, the content is easy to follow. The same can be said about the editing. There is not much more than simple jump cuts and black screens. In a serious documentary such as this, it is important to use this strategy, as otherwise it can feel like it is an iMovie project rather than a professional film. There isn’t much in the way of cinematography in this documentary, apart from the home videos, but it doesn’t hinder the movie much, if at all. There seems to be no need for expert cinematography here, just as there is no need for excessive editing. With a serious topic such as this, a simple and serious tone needs to be taken with it as well. One confusing aspect of this movie is the fact that the title and the quote shown at the beginning of the movie from the book Of Mice and Men: ”He was so little,” said Lennie. “I was jus’ playin’ with him… an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me… an’ I made like I was gonna smack him… an’… an’ I done it. An’ he was dead.” This seems to have little to no correlation with the movie itself. The only time any attempt to make a connection is made is those two instances, the title and that quote. Nobody in any interview mentions it, no other quotes from the book are ever shown, and it is not relayed back to at the end of the film. It appears a point certainly could have been made with this, but it just was not capitalized upon. Of Dogs and Men is not a movie for entertainment or enjoyment. It is meant to get a message across, to speak upon an issue that is mistakenly ignored. While it may not be a movie to lighten the mood, that should not be a deterrent to anyone looking for a film to watch. The message this movie sends is impactful and is one that needs to be heard by as many ears as possible. This is a great film to show to any sociology class, or a course about animal rights. This is also important for prospective or current dog families to watch as it is a reminder of an unfortunate but very real possibility. This movie will be difficult to swallow at times, but it ends with a message of hope and proof that change does occur for anyone looking for a ray of reassurance. Author Bio: Nicolas Woosley attends Minnesota State University as a Sport Management major. He currently has no other accessibly published articles, though he has written countless essays and the like over the past 10 years. This article was written for the Animals and Society class offered at his university. Read more film reviews and blogs on various topics from other students on this website. Check them out! Comments are closed.
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This is a website about nonhuman animals, written by human animals taking a Society and Animals class at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Archives
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