Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 4 March
A Dog’s Way Home (Smith, 2019)
So the Oscars happened and I can barely recall anything about them. Checking my notes, though, I realise there was one thing that I wanted to say in my chat with Emile Donovan last night that I didn’t get to and that was the unusual (to me) statement by host Julianne Hough at the end of the red carpet segment – she made a point of acknowledging that the ceremony was being held on indigenous land (much like the Welcome to Country that you get at most Australian events these days):
We gather in celebration of the Oscars on the ancestral lands of the Tongva, Tataviam and Chumash peoples, the traditional caretakers of this water and land. We honor and pay our respects to indigenous communities here and around the world.
In the current environment this sort of thing is very welcome but, of course, not everyone sees it that way. This article on the FoxNews lists some of the backlash.
Anyway, I’ll take my positives where I can find them.
Last week had plenty of tough watches – yay for No Other Land winning the feature documentary Oscar yesterday – so I’m going to be a bit gentler on myself, and you, this week.
A Dog’s Way Home isn’t a perfect movie, by any means, but it will make you feel good. I reviewed it for RNZ Widescreen back in 2019:
Bella is rescued as a puppy from an evil property developer who wants to demolish some old house without ensuring that the stray animals who live beneath are safely re-homed. Bella’s owner, Lucas (English actor Jonah Hauer-King), works at the local veteran’s hospital where his mother (Ashley Judd) is an out-patient. Bella is a boisterous and loving puppy but not all that welcome in the neighbourhood as the evil property developer leans on the animal control authorities to take revenge on Lucas for thwarting his condominium plans.
Falsely labelled a pit bull, Bella is packed off to Lucas’ girlfriend’s parents in New Mexico to escape a fate worse than death. Actually, a fate exactly like death.
Not realising that she was in exile for her own good, Bella soon escapes and tries to get home to Denver – roughly 400 scenic miles – and on her nearly three-year journey she meets multiple prospective new human owners and she manages to raise a cougar kitten whose own mother has been shot by hunters.
Designed by NASA scientists to push all the relevant emotional buttons in adults and children, occasionally A Dog’s Way Home manages to break through with something lovely and real (especially the focus on the veterans trauma), but mostly it is let down by the digital manipulation of the other animals and the cinematic manipulation of its audience. You will feel things, but you will also feel as if you are being taken for a ride. But sometimes that’s just what you need.
Also in the cast is the great Edward James Olmos as the homeless veteran Axel.
Where to watch A Dog’s Way Home
Aotearoa: Streaming on ThreeNow (free with ads)
Australia: Streaming on Binge, FoxtelNow or Stan
Canada: Streaming on Netflix or Starz
Ireland & UK: Digital rental
India: Streaming on Netflix
USA: Streaming on Fubo or FXNow (free with cable TV provider)