Red Dog

It’s been a good year thus far to be an animal in the movie business.

We’ve had ‘War Horse’, ‘The Artist’, where the human actors were upstaged by a ten year old Jack Russell by the name of Uggie, and we’ve also had ‘Red Dog’.

Not familiar with ‘Red Dog’? That’s perhaps no great surprise.

‘Red Dog’ is an Australian film that has had a relatively limited release here in the United Kingdom.

A very, very brief synopsis could label this movie as Greyfriars Bobby moved to the Australian outback.  ‘Red Dog’ is based on legendary true story of Red Dog who roamed the outback in search of his master John (played in the film by Josh Lucas) who dies in a motorbike accident.

Just how much of this film is based on legend and how much is based on fact is open to debate but it provides the viewer with a highly emotional journey all the same. This isn’t a film that gently tugs at the hearts strings, rather it is one that gives them a good old yank and leaves you to face the consequences.

You would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by Red Dog’s story. Following the death of his beloved master he sits outside the homestead for three weeks staring down an empty dirt track patiently awaiting for his never to return master.

At the end of those three weeks Red Dog abandons his lonely vigil and sets out to find John. An, unsuccessful, journey that takes him across Australia, and into the hearts of countless Australians. Not for nothing has there been a statue of Red Dog erected in what is the closest, for such a nomadic dog, to what could be considered his home town.  

I don’t want to give too much of the story away but if you are in any way an animal lover then I suggest taking a large box of hankies with you to the cinema.

I’m a big, strapping lump of a 43 year old and I’m not prone, as a rule, to outward displays of emotion. I would be lying though if I said there wasn’t a lump in my throat and a distinct moistening around the eyes when watching this. Indeed even that would be a lie. It wasn’t a single tear that gently rolled down my face during the film. It was a veritable flood of tears that gushed down my normally stoic visage. At one point I was even desperately fighting the urge not to emit a pitiful sob. That my girlfriend (yes dear reader I am hetrosexual) was sitting next to me going through the same gamut of emotions didn’t exactly help me in my fight, which I lost, to avoid becoming a gibbering wreck.

If you feel brave enough then this film is well worth taking the time to see it. And if it doesn’t make you cry then nothing ever will.