White God
[Fehér isten], directed by Kornél Mundruczó, Hungary / Germany / Sweden 2014, 121'
Hungary has passed a law that imposes considerable restrictions on mongrel owners. People start looking at those animals with hostility. 13-year-old Lili fiercely fights to keep her four-legged companion, Hagen. She doesn’t understand inhuman regulations and her father’s resistance, who ends up abandoning the dog in the middle of a busy street. The girl decides to bring her pet back, but he’s gone. Hagen wanders through Budapest, experiencing the cruelty of people first-hand. He escapes the dog catchers, runs into a trap set by a greedy homeless man, until he is captured and trained for bloody dog fights. He manages to escape, though, and joins a pack of angry dogs who seek vengeance on their owners. The director called White God a mix of melodrama, adventure and a film about revenge. It is also an unsettling political metaphor, a commentary to current events in Hungary and the rest of Europe.
