Dog Movie For Adults
Oct 25th, 2015 by admin
Great Scots MacBlog
Great Scots Magazine’s blog for the Scottish Terrier obsessed
http://tartanscottie.com/macblog/
Recently I treated myself and Burnsie to another viewing of the 2008 film, Dean Spanley. I own the DVD, so I popped corn, opened a root beer, and Burns and I watched the captivating movie all over again for the first time.
I first encountered the film, Dean Spanley, on Naitauba Island, Fiji — ashram and World Hermitage of the late spiritual leader, Adi Da — when I spent three weeks there in 2011. Lisa Lurie, caretaker of Adi Da’s Scotties and avid reader of my Great Scots Magazine, was my ‘Girl Friday’ while I was on the Island and she introduced me to the film.
Ostensibly the film is about the “transmigration of souls” involving a Welsh Spaniel named “Wags” and an Anglican clergyman who mysteriously channels the spaniel’s life and joys when the prelate’s under influence of Tokaji, a rare and coveted wine. But the film is much more in its drama of an Edwardian Era British father and his surviving son, trapped behind unexpressed grief over the deaths of an older son in the Boer War and subsequent death of the wife and mother, dead of a broken heart.
It’s a hauntingly beautiful and bitter-sweet dog movie made for adults, a story touched with humor and pathos of how dogs redeem lost humanity by touching unforgettably our heart.
I cry and hug Burnsie each time I view my DVD. It really IS a great story well-told. Peter O’Toole is unforgettable as the curmudgeon father, so afraid of grieving and damaged by his own rigid psychological defense-mechanisms. Sam Neill, as Dean Spanley, who channels the spaniel ‘Wags’, is every dog lover’s delight in his enchanted descriptions of canine joys and fears. Dogs really DO make us nicer people and great dogs remembered re-locate our lost soul.
If you love dogs and relish a memorable movie, my advice: get the DVD and treat yourself to the best movie you’ve seen in a long, long time. Starring Peter O’Toole, Jeremy Northam, Sam Neill, and Bryan Brown. 2008 Atlantic Film Productions distributed exclusively
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. (Charles M. Schulz)
Responses