I enjoy watching movies that tend to step away from the ordinary and mainstream, especially animated ones. That’s why I decided to find this rare film. The Plague Dogs (1982), directed by Martin Rosen (Watership Down), is just one of those few flicks that got my distracted attention. First of all, I must recommend that people should read the novel to get a better impression before viewing this movie. The film may be confusing to those without needed background information about the characters and other essentials from the complex novel.


THE STORY
The opening, accompanied by the song, “Time and Tide” and the distant mournful howls of dogs in a research station, fully takes off as a depressing film. Yes, indeed it is. Here at the Coniston animal research laboratory located in Lawson Park near the English countryside, we meet our two main characters: a blissfully unstable fox terrier, Snitter (John Hurt), and a gruff black lab mix, Rowf (Christopher Benjamin). They soon find themselves on accident escaping the research lab, and that’s when their journey begins. Out in the country after killing a sheep, Snitter and Rowf meet a devious fox called The Tod. The Tod fixes a deal with the dogs to help him hunt, and in return teach the dogs how to survive the wild.

After killing more sheep to survive, people soon think the dogs are terrorizing sheep and causing havoc in the Lake district. The fox thinks the dogs are clueless about being wild animals. And worse, the scientists try to keep the escape a secret but word soon comes out that the dogs are carrying fleas holding the bubonic plague, dubbing the mutts: The Plague Dogs. Then for some ridiculous reason the military gets involved in the capture of the dogs, which ends up as a surprise in the end.


CHARACTERS
SNITTER - Snitter has a scrambled psyche, misjudging the objective from the subjective, due to a experimental brain operation prior to their escape. This experiment makes him say psychotic remarks such as: “I’m in my head now, and that’s the way it should be.” Snitter had an owner once, a man he recalls had a yellow scarf and a cane. He talks about his master all the time and Rowf hates it. Snitter finds the good in anything he comes against, especially The Tod.

ROWF - Rowf is the first dog seen in the movie, swimming in a water-filled tank for timed physical endurance experimentation (or survival expectation conditioning) at the research laboratory. Rowf has never had an owner which makes him aggressive towards people.

THE TOD - The Tod is a red fox with a Geordie dialect the dogs first meet slinking around in a cave. The Tod’s character was not at all like the novel’s version. He was greedy and a deceiver and would never help the dogs in any sympathetic way, which he does unfortunately in the movie.



I unfortunately viewed a cut version of this movie, but thankfully it wasn’t butchered enough where I couldn’t get an idea or feel of the story. The Plague Dogs was interesting and realistic, but not for the faint of heart or those who can’t face life or animal experimentation. Some children would be frightened from the blood and some thematic elements, but my brother, who is 3-yrs-old, loved it. At times the film would drag and wouldn’t show the many human characters the novel held. The scientists’ and farmers’ voices sometimes overlapped the dog’s actions which got annoying near the middle and conclusion. I was disappointed that Adams’ own style, deep and poetic, was barley involved in the film which seemed somewhat shallow and all in all dismal. Rosen left out many key elements in the novel which could have fit in various areas in the film. However, the film did have positive characteristics. The drawn appearance of the characters and dog’s were very realistic. Every detail of a dog you will find on Snitter and Rowf. The animation is purely European, hand drawn and fluid, which is visually similar to the animated sequences in Pink Floyd: The Wall. The backgrounds are watercolored, muted and artistically true. Such as the detailed wood on a wooden door of a shed, or water running down the curves of a chain link fence, to how the dogs walk and move around.

Overall, The Plague Dogs stands out from your average cartoons or animation, which is a good thing. This movie is hard to find, and especially hard to find an uncut version, but try at least to see The Plague Dogs.




“From Warsaw and from Babylon
The ghosts will not release the lives.
A weary burden fall upon
The groping remnant that survives.
So this distracted beast contrives
His hopeless search as best he can.
Beyond the notebooks and the knives
A lost dog seeks a vanished man.”

- Richard Adams, “The Plague Dogs”


















Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older