WHITE GOD – The Review

Review by Stephen Jones

Here’s a weird one. I’m not sure quite what I expected going into it, but it’s basically a late 70’s Animals Attack movie filtered through a bleak European art-house sensibility. Dogs by way of Au Hasard Balthazar. Or maybe Rise of the Planet of the Apes but with a little magical realism instead of science fiction drugs. I realize that using movie titles so much in the description might make it feel like a retread, but I promise you there is nothing else out there like this movie right now.

The story is simple, a girl goes to stay with her dad, her dog doesn’t fit in, so the dad dumps it. Much sadness ensues for both girl and dog. The final act is something I would normally refrain from talking about, but it’s pretty much the selling point of the film; the big revolt led by the girl’s dog against their oppressors. It’s well done, and I’ll go into it a bit, but the build up to it is arguably the more effective portion. It’s hard to show cruelty to dogs and NOT build sympathy, after all.

It’s actually not all slapping the dog around, though. The most horrifying segment involves the dog getting roped into a dog fighting circuit, yes, but there’s probably more cold treatment from adults in the girl’s life and the bureaucracy, which is actually a lot more frustrating. They were the portions that got to me the most. They were infuriating with the dog and just so frustrating for the girl trying to get him back. Then there’s the finale…

I won’t delve into too much detail – just because the trailers give the gist of what happens doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of wonderful little details and moments to be found – but the movie does a pretty great job with the balancing act required for a climax like this. There’s catharsis on behalf of the dog, and MAN is it satisfying in a purely visceral way… but it isn’t just the dog’s story, and they do just as good a job portraying just how horrific it all actually is through the girl. I wanted the dog to get revenge, but seeing it through her perspective still sat heavily in my gut.

The whole final act hits the emotional beats it needs spot on, but… I don’t know, it lacks a bit of scale. It gets hyped up as the most dire situation the town has ever seen, but it never feels like more than a few dog attacks. Attacks by a MOB of dogs, yes, but never really anything on a level that justifies the response it gets. I don’t know specifically what could’ve been added to solve this, but it made everything not directly involving the girl and her dog feel just a little flat. That was disappointing when hitting those parts out of the park as well as the main two story portions would’ve made this really something special.

Although it still is sort of something special. Like I said, there’s nothing else out there right now like this movie. It’s not quite horror, not quite standard drama, little bit of revenge fantasy, but it never feels like it’s going for cheap catharsis. It’s in a nicely weird little zone of its own. If you see the trailer and it sparks your interest, I can at least say that the movie achieves the feeling the trailer promises, even in the aspects where it falls just a little short. It has some great segments where they get some very solid storytelling across with no dialogue (whoever trained the dogs in this did an amazing job), and the cinematography is outstanding, especially the film’s final shot.

WHITE GOD is the sort of weird curiosity that gets found on Netflix a couple years after its release and is passed around by friends who discover it. I won’t be surprised at all if in three years it places highly on a list of “best Netflix movies you haven’t seen.” That it’s actually getting enough of a release to be available in theaters here is wonderful, and I’d recommend checking it out.

4 of 5 Stars

WHITE GOD opens in St. Louis April 10th exclusively at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater