Underdog

Der Aufstieg des Planet of Dogs, gefilmt mit ausdrucksstarker Artenergie und leider auch mitsamt aller Klischees, logischer Eselsbrücken, Banalitäten und einem Spiel auf Effekt, welches eher zu Hollywoods Katastrophenszenarien passen. Das beabsichtigte Gleichnis von Fremdenfeindlichkeit sowie der Dominanz der "weißen Götter" über den "minderwertigen Rassen" ist hier bis auf einige auffällige Symbole, abgeflachte Figuren oder kaum überzeugende Nachbildungen zusammengeschrumpft. Die Arbeit mit den Hundeschauspielern, die energische Kameraführung sowie die Tonarbeit schweifen in einigen Momenten aus, jedoch trotz der dynamischen Bewegung der Charaktere entlang der Misanszene macht der Weiße Gott eher den Eindruck eines in die Länge gezogenen Hundeheulens. Meiner Ansicht nach ist dies eine Enttäuschung, denn ich persönlich hätte vom Gewinner der Sektion Uncertain Regard mehr erwartet als lediglich transparente Hundeaugen. (21.01.2015)

As a declared metaphor for power relations and exploitation across ethnicities in the context of society, Mundruczó’s White God is too ponderous and naïve. It could even be said that the project got out of control like the dogs in the film and the director got swept away by the challenges of implementing it and the potential for spectacle at the expense of the message. But what if the thing that some criticise Mundruczó for is actually the essence that he is increasingly working toward achieving. What if he is indeed the European equivalent of Cuarón, who does not deny his humble roots, but is rather gradually working his way up to ever more ambitious and elaborate projects? His earlier films already contained the seeds of high-concept art, to which he has added a blockbuster production dimension in his more recent projects. Whereas White God is embarrassing as an Eastern European festival film, it is sufficiently subversive and though-provoking as a Euro-art variation on the Hollywood dog melodrama. Primarily, however, it remains an absolute phenomenon and, in terms of production, an outstanding work that fascinates with the tenacity of the analogue rendering of its sequences, which anyone else would have immediately rejected or handled with digital effects. Even a solitary work can look like this. (12.04.2020)

I don't really like movies that are primarily allegorical, and I also don't really like movies that try to emotionally manipulate the viewer, such as those involving harming dogs. However, this film presents it all in a meaningful and well-executed way that I found captivating, especially the presentation of the film's final message. This was good. (07.12.2016)