★ 8 / 10
Its not an easy watch, it breaks your heart.
recep-28386
It's Saturday midnight and I am laying on the bed, turning on Amazon prime and looking for dog related streams to watch, with my almost 1 year old golden pup.…
It's Saturday midnight and I am laying on the bed, turning on Amazon prime and looking for dog related streams to watch, with my almost 1 year old golden pup.
I watched the first 20 minutes or so without subtitles, as I was swept away right from the start, before I realized, I don't speak Dutch and I need actually turn on the sub to understand what's going on, besides what I can see. The beginning of the documentary is surreal, as you are being brought right into the middle of action inside the shelter. From there on you slowly get spoon fed, without sugar coating it, how unpredictable a day in here can become. An ill cat suddenly collapsing and dying right when you took it to the vets room. Not an easy sight and difficult to process, especially for the worker who brought her there. Sudden new arrival of several unhealthy cats from a forced rescue mission, in terrible condition. Young pups of 9 month age already pregnant with their own pups from unethical puppy mills and so forth.
Throughout the movie I keep associating these unfortunate animals with my princess, who's laying right next to me. The thought that she could be on of these pets makes me very sensitive towards their situation throughout the documentary. The fact that we can't safe them all, even though while we witness the staff giving their all and being forced to make hard decisions, as some animals can't be trusted to be resocialized and rehomed into new family homes, to then be put to sleep. Idealistic Thoughts arrive such as, how you would very much want to rescue them all but it's not possible. The truth of how many people, who should have never owned pets, is quite visible in this place.
The documentary itself does a good job in bringing the undertone of many scenes to light, by introducing the right background melodies t9 enhance the right mood and it does a good job with that. In certain scenes you also realize the helplessness of the pets , enchanted by the background sounds slowly tuning out and you are left with a near silent surrounding, while the pets clearly try to visually communicate in vain. The underlying message with that decision for these scenes are intuitively easy to understand and helps bring a more thorough understanding to their situation.
I personally took a lot away from this documentary about the happenings of a shelter and their difficult responsibilities. I empathize a lot more with them now. It also makes me appreciate my own 2 pets more than before, motivating me to be even more there for them, so they can have a good life, as it is even more important for me now, to do a good job as a pet owner.
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★ 8 / 10
Amsterdam's abandoned animals and those who care for them
ConvitHouse
This fly-on-the-wall documentary covers a few weeks of life in a large animal sanctuary that houses dogs, cats and rabbits. We see the inmates arrive, receive…
This fly-on-the-wall documentary covers a few weeks of life in a large animal sanctuary that houses dogs, cats and rabbits. We see the inmates arrive, receive treatment and care, and undergo preparation for re-homing. Some are badly injured, and there are scenes in the veterinary hospital that some, as they say, might find distressing. Some animals go to a good home, some are too sick to make it, and some are temperamentally incompatible with family life - unless the staff can train them to get along with humans despite previous bad experiences.
The unobtrusive filming allows the animals' characters to come through, without anthropomorphising them. Even the most antisocial animals bond with their carers, but some can never return to the outside world.
The carers are not interviewed, but drop occasional remarks that reveal why they prefer animals to people - the usual charge levelled at those in the animal charity sector. In some cases, it's presumably because they receive the love from animals that their fellow humans failed to provide.
This moving film emphasises the remarkable nature of the human-animal bond by showing the disastrous consequences of that bond being broken. Without over sentimentalising the work of animal sanctuaries, the film, without commentary or opinion, shows the daily acts of charity that, despite inevitable failures, show what it is to be truly humane.
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80%
AUDIENCE
7.3/10
76
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truth