Review: Triumphant And Visceral Cannes Winner And Doggy Revenge Film ‘White God’

This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

It’s a classic exploitation/revenge narrative. Hagen and Lili are best friends, until Lili goes to live with her father, who doesn’t approve of Hagen, and forces them apart. Unmoored from Lili’s protective influence, Hagen wanders the streets, makes tentative friends with a similar hard-luck story, before being captured and sold into bondage. Once his potential as a fighter is spotted, he is trained to become a bloodthirsty killer, only to flee and be caught again, this time put behind bars to essentially await execution. But here he suddenly finds the resources to put his newfound viciousness to use, staging a bloody escape and leading an army of fellow inmates on a rampage of revenge, encompassing everyone who’s done him wrong along the way, right back to Lili, whose abandonment was the first and maybe greatest betrayal. Lili is a young girl who plays trumpet in a youth orchestra; Hagen is a dog. 

An...