A breakout Hungarian indie, White God is the allegorical tale of a young girl, Lilli, and her mutt who are separated when her estranged father can't pay the taxation on the animal due to its aforementioned mongrel nature. The dog, Hagen, is abandoned on the street and has to fend for itself, falling afoul of an illegal dog-fighting ring and eventually avoiding euthanasia... by staging an all-out revolt of the dogs in captivity at the local pound. Not only is the film an impressive debut from writer-director Kornél Mundruczó, firing on multiple cylinders from socio-political allegory to a commentary on faith and leadership - but it's also an achievement in film production, considering the film wrangled 274 dogs to be filmed in its climactical scenes of canine revolution. The special features on the Blu-ray illuminate viewers as to how exactly they achieved this, using the help of professional dog wranglers, and it's nothing short of impressive to watch. If the old adage is to never work with children or animals, Mundruczó has us questioning exactly why that is. White God looks spectacular in 1080p, and has intense repeat-viewing value as it takes a good three or four goes to even begin unpacking its rich layers of subtext and metaphors. Must-own.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
