Rescue Journal

it's another movie review

Carol  ·  Aug. 10, 2008

zoe and nicole wanted me to see this movie about an accidental newbie rescuer in " year of the dog"..unlike "jesus camp" which totally was NOT funny and freaked me out, this one was supposed to make me laugh and cheer me up...i am a rescue freak...it upset me.

that so very nice woman who loved her little dog more than anything else, was scary. her first dog died because she didn't know that a dog who is not listening to you and not coming when you call it, is about to get into really bad trouble so don't walk away and go back to bed. that little sweet dog was dead the next day.
she adopted her second dog who she was totally beyond understanding and then trusted his care to a total moron and he was killed too.

she stole from her employer to support her need to help animals, she pushed her beliefs onto her friends and family and then tried to give any stupid, selfish person she could find, a homeless shelter dog.

she went to the pound and came home with FIFTEEN death row dogs and proceeded to let them destroy her house, upset her neighbors and generally just go nutz. the moron who killed her second dog, showed up, had them seized and sent back to death row.

she then descended into a melt down, dropped her life (along with those 15 impounded dogs) hopped a bus and headed off to protest the torturing of rabbits for cosmetics companies. she finally "found" herself.

there are three things that really bother me about this movie...

1. the moron, shelter worker...who became her mentor...and presented himself as "the dog whisperer" "mr. quintessential dog rescuer/trainer" who in reality was a total (and dangerous to any dog) flake.

2. the woman herself...good hearts do come with dim brains and dim brains who do not recognize, accept and work really hard on lighting up their dim brains, can do alot of unnecessary damage to the animal they pretend to protect. (it is the old ethical debate on the "great pretenders" and how much damage they cause.)
3. the whole "sickness" of this movie...in my view, dishonesty is not excused on anyones part because you happen to love animals. and could she give a worse image to the people out there trying to do a good and responsible job.
she lied, cheated and stole, she actually bullied and bribed someone to take a dog. she boldly plunged on into the abyss of animal nightmares and kept on messing up more animals lives. indulging yourself with horror stories on the internet and then not doing the work to find out how to help responsibly instead of making things worse, pisses me off.
the moron shelter guy misrepresented himself...he led a dim idiot to believe that he actually knew what he was doing and was pretty good at it too. she fell for it, and valentine got killed because she didn't realize that the thing that people lie about most in rescue is ourselves....we are always looking to impress someone... anyone... even someone with no brain.

i think the only honest and truthful characters were her selfish boss and the knife toting, moose hunting neighbor next door who accidentily shot his own dog. at least he admitted it and didn't blame the dog or anyone else.AND unlike anyone else, he accepted responsibility and showed true remorse.
anyway, if you want to see a not so funny movie about some pretty scary and almost real people in the rescue world, then this is the movie for you. to me it was a horror show because it was so very close to real.

Comments

mo

Mo's kitty is still in hospital... I am here at my desk wondering how quickly I can get back to maple ridge if they let me bring him home today. We still don't really know what th eproblem is... so pawsitive thoughts for Ripley are most welcome.

I don't think I'll watch Year of the Dog.

Nicole

year of the dog wasn't a comedy. we originally rented it thinking it was a comedy, because molly shannon was in it, but quickly realized it wasn't. there are funny bits in it, but then some not funny bits either.
it was a movie about people who get way in over their heads about something they care about.

i liked the movie and i don't think it was too far from many new rescue people - yes, everything was over the top, but it's a movie, most things in movies are.

i think it had a lot of true things in it about the rescue world.
there are plenty of dog trainers who are idiots and flakes teaching their 'brillance' to well intentioned dog owners.
there are plenty of people who wanted to save every dog in a shelter,
there are plenty of people who have tried to convince someone they know to adopt a dog and save it's life. there are plenty of people who attach themselves to the first person who sounds like they might know something about their newest 'hobby'.
she eventually realized her many many errors and how well timed, in two hours she got things sorted out.

as an aside, how is mo's kitty?

Eva Stock

I am terrified to watch those movies as people are so cruel and stupid. The animals are all smarter than they are anyway. Don't watch those kind of movies as you are too tuned in to animals I think Carol. Eva