7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Thirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. While Lili tries to find her dog, Hagen roams the city, receiving a harsh education in cruelty and indifference. Then, one day, Hagen and a pack of fellow strays discover a common purpose . . .
Starring: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth, Lili Monori, Szabolcs ThuróczyForeign | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Horror | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Hungarian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Nature rose up in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, and much of what fueled the fear of that film's avian attacks was the lack of any apparent motive. In Hungarian writer/director Kornel Mundruczó's 2014 White God, by contrast, there is never any question about why a canine coalition rises up against the human race. The "white god" of the title refers to man, who, from the point of view of a faithful dog, must surely seem god-like. What happens when this trusted figure repeatedly abuses its power by harming and exploiting the faithful? In the allegorical, fairy-tale world of Mundruczó's film, if your god betrays you enough times, he ceases to be god and becomes the enemy. (Mundruczó also notes an intentional reference to Samuel Fuller's 1982 film White Dog, about a dog trained to attack black people.) Mundruczó's desire to feature dogs as characters created unheard-of technical challenges in both pre-production and filming, because the director insisted on using real animals, with no CGI tricks. Some 280 animals were used, most from animal shelters, and all were adopted after filming was completed. The resulting work initially looks like something heart-tugging that might be suitable for Disney. But the logic of Mundruczó's concept is inexorably cruel, and White God leads to places that are too scary for young children (although the film carries a disclaimer that all violence to animals was simulated). As much as White God appears to be set in a contemporary world of smart phones, automobiles and the internet, Mundruczó has built on that foundation an imagined world that's as primal and frightening as anything found in the Brothers Grimm.
White God was shot digitally by Hungarian cinematographer Marcell Rév (using the Arri Alexa, according to IMDb), with post-production completed on a digital intermediate. Much of the photography is handheld (though not excessively "shaky") and low to the ground to create the sensation of a dog's point of view. Magnolia Home Video's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced directly from digital files. The Blu-ray image is beautifully clean and crisp, providing lovely vistas of Budapest early in the film, when it's important to establish the isolation of Lili and her dog in a vast and lonely space. Later, when the now cast-off Hagen is navigating unfamiliar turf, the image allows the viewer to appreciate the fine detail of every alley and cubbyhole through which the homeless dog tries to evade various pursuers and, in longer shots, the wide assortment of mixed-breed strays with which he eventually bonds. The expressive features of the twin dogs who play Hagen are captured in every twitch and turn, giving him a clear personality and character traits that appear almost human. (No doubt, many takes and careful editing were required to create the effect.) Black levels and contrast are excellent, and the colors have been left muted and understated, presumably because that palette favors the coats and shadings of the various dog breeds and, in particular, helps Hagen stand out from the pack. Magnolia has mastered White God with an average bitrate of 29.996 Mbps, which is excellent and has produced a rock-steady and artifact-free image.
White God's 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, reflects a different approach to sound design than is found in the typical American adventure or fantasy film. The sound mix is generally restrained except for specific moments when reality itself would be loud, and then the track is very loud. A notable example occurs when Lili attends an all-hours "rave" with older friends from school. The club music is as enveloping and deafening, and the bass as deep and throbbing, as if one were in a real club; if you have been listening to the film at normal levels, you may be tempted to lower the volume (I was). You don't need to speak Hungarian to know that the characters can't hear each other well enough to understand what they're saying, because the music drowns out their voices, just as it would in real life. Similar treatment is accorded packs of barking dogs, on-rushing traffic when Hagen is attempting to cross a busy thoroughfare, and a few other effects scattered throughout the film. Most of these loud effects appear quickly, peak, and then pass. Depending on the relation between sound and picture, the result can be dramatic, startling or both. Although I cannot evaluate the clarity of the Hungarian dialogue, it appears to be well-placed. There is no English dub track, but there are legible English subtitles, plus separate English SDH subtitles. The intense orchestral score is by Hungarian-Israeli composer Asher Goldschmidt.
Mundruczó's command of filmmaking is so assured, and the story of White God is so visual, that it's not hard to imagine it as a silent movie, with only a musical score and few intertitles to convey essential information. This may be why the film loses so little with subtitles; most of them do not convey any essential information. They fill in character and background, but the real action occurs in the faces, actions and body language of Lili, Hagen and their hundreds of four-legged co-stars, who do not need words to express themselves. Magnolia has brought this remarkable achievement to Blu-ray with its usual skill. Highly recommended.
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