Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

White God Blu-ray Movie Review

Dog Will Have His Day

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 29, 2015

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 begins with an arresting set of images meant to intrigue the viewer and foreshadow what's to come. A young girl, who will shortly be identified as Lili (Zsófia Psotta), rides a bicycle through an apparently deserted Budapest, when a pack of dogs appears behind her, running in slow motion. Is she leading them, or are they chasing her? In just over an hour, we'll find out.

Thirteen-year-old Lili is the child of divorced parents, who is left in the care of her embittered father, Dániel (Sándor Zsótér), while her mother pursues a job opportunity abroad with her new husband. Lili's constant companion is her dog, Hagen, a mutt that requires a special license, according to the latest city regulations favoring pure breeds. Dániel is dismayed to find that he not only has Hagen encumbering his small apartment, but also an animal control official banging at his door demanding payment, thanks to a busybody landlady who doesn't like dogs. The relationship between father and teenage daughter is already fraught, and it worsens when Lili quits the school band, in which she plays the trumpet, as it is preparing for a major concert. Here, too, Hagen is the reason, because Lili insists on bringing the dog to practice, provoking a dispute with the imperious music teacher (László Gálffi). In short order, Dániel loses his temper during a car ride and leaves Hagen by the side of the road.

A dual odyssey commences. Lili's path is a familiar one, as she buries herself in familiar teen rituals of alienation, alcohol and the occasional brush with law enforcement. Hagen's journey is more complex. Exploring unfamiliar parts of the city, the former house pet encounters packs of wild dogs that initially treat him as an outsider but eventually accept him as one of them. Evading animal control officers is a constant but necessary battle, because, despite what Lili is told, shelter dogs are routinely put down. A vagrant saves Hagen from near-capture, but it's only to sell him into the world of illegal dog fighting, where he is abused and molded into a killer. By the time he escapes, he is no longer the same Hagen. The animal control team that captures him evaluates his wounds and disposition and decides that this dog is unsalvageable and should be put down. But Hagen fights back.

The last half hour of White God is almost mythic in both its imagery and its internal logic, much of which defies rational explanation but feels perfectly consistent. It's as if a cosmic scale is being balanced, as each act of indifference or cruelty visited upon the good-natured Hagen up to that point is returned against its perpetrator. As a terrified populace flees the streets, only a few people intuitively grasp what has caused the uproar, where it will lead and how it might be stopped. As Hitchcock did in The Birds, Mundruczó ends White God not with a complete resolution but simply with a pause, leaving the viewer suspended in a conflict that has yet to end, and reflecting on what might be required to achieve a just and lasting peace.

White God Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

White God Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes of White God (1080p; 1.78:1; 17:17): The best part of this "making of" featurette is the footage of rehearsal and filming with the canine "actors", both lead and supporting, which gives some idea of the logistical challenges that the crew had to surmount in creating White God. Comments are supplied by many participants, but none of them are identified by onscreen text, which is frustrating. Easily recognizable are director Mundruczó, trainer Teresa Ann Miller and human star Zsófia Psotta. Also interviewed is co-writer and producer Viktória Petrányi. In Hungarian with English subtitles and English.



• Interview with Writer/Director Kornel Mundruczó (1080p; 1.78:1; 14:42): Speaking in English, Mundruczó describes his inspiration for White God and the initial difficulty in convincing backers and collaborators that the film could be made with live animals instead of CGI. He also discusses working with Teresa Ann Miller and the film's themes from the perspective of contemporary Eastern Europe.



• Interview with Animal Coordinator/Technical Advisor Teresa Ann Miller (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:43): Miller describes the casting of twin dogs Luke and Body as "Hagen". Body joins in the interview.



• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2.35:1; 2:19): "Alone. Apart. Afraid. And the only way to get back is to rise up." Where the promotional copy misleads is in suggesting that there is such a thing as a way "back".



• Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment: The disc includes trailers for Serena, The Dead Lands and Pioneer, as well as promos for the Chideo web service and AXS TV. These also play at startup, where they can be skipped with the chapter forward button.



• BD-Live: As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live gave the message "Check back for updates".

White God Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.