SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

soranamicooper The TV channel showing this described it as a 'drama' and a quick check of the IMDb score of 6.9 convinced me to at least give it a go. I tend not to look much further than that so as to minimise preconceptions, although with hindsight I wish I'd noticed that the IMDb genre also made mention of fantasy and horror, which ain't my thing. It starts not unpromisingly as a teen girl and her beloved dog are thrust upon her father by his ex-wife while she flies off for some extended work project abroad. The mongrel (there are a few references to its race) is unwelcome to Dad and his apartment administrator and is kicked out to fend for itself on the streets. A rather confusing couple of hours ensued watching an unconvincing tale of animal abuse and revenge. I grew increasingly dismayed as the father/daughter story, which had potential, was overshadowed by the 'fantasy' and 'horror' elements in the dog's story. I even mistook it for (unfunny) comedy at first (I often struggle to know if a scene is meant to inspire horror or laughter). I guess the dog's the star and if you like your animals imbued with human qualities and taking the lead role, this may be for you. Even so, the story itself lacks any real drama and disappoints at just about every turn, taking the most obvious/ridiculous, but not the most interesting. There are so many scenes of inconsequence that it begs the question whether it needs 2 hours. 10-15 mins would probably do the trick.

zetes Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but with dogs. This Hungarian film about a dog uprising takes itself far too seriously and is pretty draggy throughout. When 13 year old Zsófia Psotta is forced to live with her father for a while while her mother is off teaching in Australia, she is not allowed to keep her beloved dog, Hagen. Her father (Sándor Zsótér) throws the dog out on the streets, and it experiences all sorts of horrors and humiliations until eventually it is able to escape, along with other abused dogs, from the pound's death row. The dogs then go on a vengeful rampage, and everyone who abused Hagen along the way feels their retribution. If this had been shorter and more exploitative, it might have been fun, but Mundruczó seems to think he has something to say (I mean, I suppose he does, about animal cruelty, but it's pretty straightforward and uninteresting). No, this isn't exploitation, it's art. It is actually quite good looking, and I'm impressed with the many animal scenes - it definitely had to have been a difficult shoot - but, all in all, it's pretty pointless.

Lary9 I agree this was hard to watch but based upon its description, I was expecting a different movie altogether. I read most of the other reviews and was surprised to find that no one mentioned the important secondary story of the young 13 y/o girl, Lili, who was struggling with trust & intimacy issues. It was the same struggle that Nagen, the dog, was enduring. Both felt distrusting; both needed love and intimacy. I was fascinated by their parallel journeys and how Lili was so passionately committed to finding Hagen. It was as if she and Hagen were connected at the soul. The father had issues but I could see he was wounded and struggling too--- against his own sense of rejection. I'm sure he didn't know how to love. The scenes with the dog fighting were unbearable. I cringe inside just to imagine how disfigured a man's spirit must be to participate in these spectacles of gore and sadism. I agree, Hagen was the star but I thought Lili did a grand job too. She had an obvious talent for music. I wonder what the connection between the trumpet in the bathroom that quieted Hagen down was all about. I'll have to watch this again...it has all kinds of interesting thematic sidebars. It's clear the filmmaker had more than just a movie about the horrors of dog fight abuse in mind. That was just the leitmotif for all the varied themes within an excellent film. I strongly recommend for all these reasons. Hope this contributed some added POVs on this title. BTW: I too must ask...why "White God"?

Reno Rangan This movie was a tricky one, because everyone cannot understand and everyone cannot enjoy it. In this modern world, the computer graphics are easily available to illude the audience, so who would still use the silly old practical trickery in a film making. Must have been the hard work to manage plenty of the dogs during the shooting. But I believe there are hardly any major CGI works other than the bluescreen works. If you get the movie, then that's fine, if not, you may get some ideas through this review. Before proceeding I just want to alert the readers the review might contain some spoilers which is not measured.The Hungary's entry for the last concluded Oscars. The movie talks about a girl Lili in her early teenage, aspiring musician and her mixed breed dog name Hagen. When a circumstance forces them apart, the individual life journey begins for both of them. The girl becomes rebellious towards her father and the dog towards the human society like a piece of iron bar pulled away from the magnet. Will they unite again? Is the rest of the story with the breathtaking second half.This dark fantasy (like dark comedy) film was like the old days, like the black and white beast or the monster films similar to 'King Kong' and others, where animals can think like humans, execute like humans, but still not a fairytale nor the science fiction. Because sci-fi applies theoretical probabilities, animal psychology et cetera, while fairytale is a magic. It will come between sci-fi and fantasy, most likely an adult version of the fantasy tale. Comparing it with 'Birds' is one hundred per cent not agreeable, because unlike the dogs, the birds' behaviours were unknown. But 'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes' was the closest one, and you can compare Caesar with Hagen.It does not end there, I believe you all have seen the last year's genuinely written screenplay 'Lucy'. You may wonder why this comparison, because this film is about dogs, yet the title strangely pronounced as 'God'. What I understood was that Hagen was drugged with cocaine (white powder) like the blue powder in the other film and he started to change his personality. So that explains the coke was the 'White God' and the rest follows the story of revenge, leadership and ultimately the revolution."It's hard to lose someone you love. Things don't work out the way we imagined."Off the record: Most of us know that the dogs are derived from the wolves. Yet they have lost the freedom compared to a few centuries ago who walked freely on the human streets. Every dog must have a master/owner or it will be put to sleep rather keeping and feeding them forever in the dog pound. So I think dogs are suffering more than the apes and they deserved the revolution (according to this film).Animal abuse was highlighted in the movie. The story was descended from there and what happens if they takeover us is the movie's view. One of the weirdest movie of the year, but different and good. If you ever had a dog, you will know they were adorable, even in the violent scenes. Because they were just playing, but that does not the case for children and those who never been with dogs. Every shot that had dogs were cleverly achieved, the outcome was very convincing.I have heard the crew used two brothers for the Hagen role. They both were awesome, equals to any main human characters from the movie. Another 250 mixed-breed stray dogs were participated in the film making and later most of them were adopted. Believe me the movie was a good one, but some people had a hard time accepting the oddity of the theme. It won a couple of awards at Cannes film festival, including one for the Hagen's character performance.The Hungarian film industry to make into the international level, they should take the cue from this success and must bring the sequel with a broader cast. Nowadays, experimental movies like this are welcomed by the moviegoers around the globe. Definitely, an interesting story with the striking scenes and dialogues would make everyone turn toward the eastern Europe. Obviously I recommend this one, but never expect the style of Hollywood, it had approached its own way to give a pleasing movie.8/10