This movie is an expose of dog fighting. When I first watched this movie, after I stopped crying, I wrote my state representative to request harsher penalties for this crime. If we are going to have capital crimes, I'm not sure why this shouldn't be one.
If you like dogs, or love any particular dogs, there are scenes in this movie you may not be able to watch. Not just one scene, but several scenes. Do not allow children to view this movie. Besides the executions of the "cowardly" dogs, which are quite painful to view, the dog fights themselves are horrific beyond description. The stories and pictures of the canine survivors and their wounds are grisly. The sophistry coming from the mouth of one of these exploitative "trainers"under interview was enough to make me want to smash the screen with my fist. You could say the film had a strong effect on me.
This movie is in NO WAY an indictment of the American Pit Bull Terrier or any of the related breeds such as the American Staffordshire Terrier. Far from it, the movie makes it clear that these dogs have a long history of loyal service and friendship, and that they are favored for these fights largely because, apart from their physical characteristics, they are totally involved emotionally with their human handlers. This makes them extremely trainable. When you learn that the dogs are rewarded for a good fight by being allowed finally to sleep with their "trainers,"at last to experience some affection from a human being, you will finally understand the depth of the emotional abuse required to turn these wonderful and sensitive creatures into killers.
If you like dogs, or love any particular dogs, there are scenes in this movie you may not be able to watch. Not just one scene, but several scenes. Do not allow children to view this movie. Besides the executions of the "cowardly" dogs, which are quite painful to view, the dog fights themselves are horrific beyond description. The stories and pictures of the canine survivors and their wounds are grisly. The sophistry coming from the mouth of one of these exploitative "trainers"under interview was enough to make me want to smash the screen with my fist. You could say the film had a strong effect on me.
This movie is in NO WAY an indictment of the American Pit Bull Terrier or any of the related breeds such as the American Staffordshire Terrier. Far from it, the movie makes it clear that these dogs have a long history of loyal service and friendship, and that they are favored for these fights largely because, apart from their physical characteristics, they are totally involved emotionally with their human handlers. This makes them extremely trainable. When you learn that the dogs are rewarded for a good fight by being allowed finally to sleep with their "trainers,"at last to experience some affection from a human being, you will finally understand the depth of the emotional abuse required to turn these wonderful and sensitive creatures into killers.
