Review of Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) by Gingy N — 05 Dec 2015

This movie is an eloquent portrayal of human ignorance imprisoning a dog to live out a decade in confusion, disappointment, and grief as he passes his days waiting for his master to return. Setting aside the fact that not one of the idiots who supposedly cared for this dog took it upon himself to make the dog a shelter, I want to say, "Wake up world!" There is no "mysterious" union here; this was an ordinary dog doing an ordinary thing. Akita's are fiercely loyal. It was the human element that was gut wrenchingly noteworthy. If owners of dogs really loved their dogs they would become more informed about what is necessary to take care of their dogs. Had the owner been sickly, the dog would have picked up on that and resolved itself to a death situation when the owner failed to show up. Yes, dogs are extremely perceptive. However, since this was a sudden death and the owner had allowed this dog to be a crucial part of his daily routine, a perfect storm arose that left the dog confused and locked into a behavior pattern because he knew no different. We all want to believe the dog was paying homage to his dead master when actually the dog was daily living out his perceived reality: My master doesn't want to be with me today." This dog could have had a happy life bonding with his new family had the owners taken the dog to the dead body of his owner so that he could sniff him and draw the natural conclusion that animals draw. Yes, he would have mourned the loss but he would have gotten over it and gone on with his life in a much less depressing way. Shame on us for not becoming more educated about these poor creatures we mercilessly include in our lives for our own selfish reasons.

It was obvious that not one person involved with this movie knew the first thing about caring for, training, or even interacting with a dog. Poorly acted, poorly written, poorly directed mess of a movie that did a true disservice to man's best friend.