MovieChat Forums > Koneko monogatari (1989) Discussion > You just need to watch it to know the tr...

You just need to watch it to know the truth

posted 16 years ago by belialprod
72 replies | jump to latest

In the end credits, it says: "All attempts were made to make sure no animals were hurt during the making of this movie." A laudable statement, to be sure.

But really, look at it. I watched it recently with my 12 year old daughter who had loved it when she was 5 or 6. Near the beginning, there were some sequences that were quite obvious that no animal that small could survive. She denied it. By the time the cat went over a waterfall in a basket while the dog was fighting a bear, she started crying and admitted that this was genuinely an animal snuff movie.

Yes, it was shot in Japan in the early 80's on a private island in Japan which acted as an animal reserve. It was governed by no laws, conventions or animal rights. I am sure the man who made it had a tremendous regard for animals, but it is also patently obvious that he was more interested in finishing his film...no matter how many cats and dogs it took.

I mean...just look at it. Use your common sense. My 12 year old did.

[–] kaiseratelier 15 years ago

An animal snuff film... hahaha. God, you make it sound like an extreme nature special on animal planet or something.

[–] dboemio 15 years ago

Who cares? All the kittens and puppies in this movie probably ended up as dinner anyway. I loved this movie as a kid, and now I love watching my kids watch it. This movie was made in a country where these animals are eaten, so SHUT THE F|_|CK UP.

[–] dflores088 15 years ago

japanese dont eat cats or dogs

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] DakotaKitten 15 years ago

You have kids ?

My God, you can't even write on a public forum without getting angry and defensive and swearing.

If you don't care about animals being hurt or killed for a movie then you come across as heartless, your excuse that "they would be eaten by the Japanese" well thats silly since it was filmed on a so called animal sanctuary by someone who is supposed to care for animals but it would seem cared more for a movie being made.

I mean seriously, take a long hard look at what you wrote and tell me you are a mature adult and not a little kid who doesn't know better pretending to be an adult.

M
http://www.darkrealmfox.com/

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] WarpedRecord 15 years ago

That statement allows a lot of wiggle room, doesn't it? For Milo especially, I highly suspect they had to use several cats. Scenes with the cat floating over the waterfall, "jumping" off the cliff and tangling with a bear are almost excruciating to watch.

This is a beautiful, imaginative film, but I'm quite sure some animals died during the making of it, despite the attempts to save them. Milo and Otis look the same throughout, though. Maybe the cats and dogs that died weren't the ones that had close-ups of their faces?

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] prayingfordaylight 14 years ago

Sorry, but that doesn't mean anything. All cats are born with blue eyes. Eveything, actually, is born with blue eyes including us because Melanin. The brown pigment molecule that colors your skin, hair, and eyes, hadn't been fully deposited in the irises of your eyes or darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light.

I loved this movie as a kid, and I still do....but as others have said watching some parts makes me really uneasy. The biggest is of course is the cliff part and where the seagulls were attacking Milo. Was there animal cruelty? Maybe, maybe not. Just because someone filmed a cat falling off a cliff doesn't mean someone THREW the cat over the cliff. Perhaps it was a case of 'at the right moment at the right time'. Strange coicidence, but what is this movie? A montage of clips of animals playing, interacting, and fighting with each other and then narrated. This was made in the 80's. Where there was animal cruelty or not is irrelivant, because this movie was made 20 years ago. Let's let sleeping dogs (and cats) lie and just enjoy the movie we all grew up to love. :)

[–] resilient_little_sprout 15 years ago

The accusations of animal cruelty against this film have an undercurrent of racism and bigotry toward Asia and Asians. Australian animal rights organizations made the completely baseless claim than 20 kittens were killed to make this film, and somehow people still believe this without any evidence. I think it is due to prejudice, they think because it was made by non-Westerners that, yes, animal cruelty is a likely possibility. You never hear these accusations about any other live action animal movie, just this one because it was made in Japan.

[–] robot_rollcall 15 years ago

That sounds like an assumption in itself. I loved this movie when I was a kid, but I watched it recently with my family and you could feel the mood in the room change when that little cat fell off the cliff. I'm sorry but I don't think that was a stuffed cat. The way that the shadow moved on the way down... it moved like a live cat trying to brace for impact. That scene really put a knot in my stomach. Even when I think about it now I get a little sick.

But believe it or not, my first thought wasn't "Those goddamn Japs!!!!" All I could think about was the way the shadow looked as it went off the cliff into the water, the particular way it oriented itself. Either that was the height of 1980s movie magic or somebody chucked a cat off a cliff.

[–] Tigos_Crika 15 years ago

I am surprised at the extremities on both sides of this argument.

While I will say that I was surprised to notice the animal cruelty going on in the film once I got older, I certainly would not call it an animal snuff film... I do feel that the animals were not taken care of the way they should have been, but I doubt they just let the animals die.

However, to say that animals are just property that you can do with what you wish??? Does this mean you beleive in slavery or child abuse as well? Don't be an idiot. We can choose to take care of animals and let them live with us, but that doesn't mean you can just abuse them.

[–] ToxicShockTaco 14 years ago

I was upset with the movie even before I knew it had anything to do with Japan. Nice sweeping generalization and cry of "racism" though. Talk about baseless accusations!

[–] Taco_Lips 15 years ago

I watched this movie throughout my childhood, from 6 yrs until I was 12, and never realise there was any cruelty in it.

It simply doesnt enter a child mind, things like that.

as another poster said, you obviously bullied a child into watching this and then forced upon them these horrible facts. Even when they tried to deny it (as any child rightfully would) you kept pushing!

YOU DISGUST ME.

If you dont want to watch this movie bcause of the cruelty I respect that, but DO NOT Put this movie in to watch with your 12 year old and then TRAUMATISE them by telling them that all the kitties and puppies died. Thats SELFISH and just as bad as the act of animal cruelty itself.

Let a CHILD be a CHILD!

[–] leniese92 11 years ago

Calm down. The child will not be traumatized especially if she was 12. Most 12 year old's have watched Hostile and Friday The 13th by now.

My mom made me watch Requiem For A Dream when I was 12 so I didn't do drugs...now that was traumatizing. Pointing out to your kid that animal abuse exists, is not nearly traumatizing.

Plus who are you to tell him how to raise his kid?

[–] ToxicShockTaco 14 years ago

I hate to admit it, but I'm not in the least bit surprised by the animal abuse apologists in here. Did this movie deliberately hurt animals? Kill 20 cats? We may never know, seeing as how all the investigations into this film have lead to dead ends. But you cannot deny that there are some -very- questionable scenes involving these animals. Although, since it's veiled in the guise of a "classic", that's not enough to make anyone look outside the box, now is it? Instead, personal attacks run rampant, and those indifferent to animal abuse can use this movie as fodder to fuel their ignorant side of the debate. (A debate which should not even exist, but I digress.)

But you cannot deny that real live animals were being used in this film, right? You DO think that the animals were real ones though, right? Oh, maybe you're saying that these animals were just stuffed puppets! lol! And that the seagulls were trained to peck at a kitten, a kitten willingly went down a smoke pipe, and they were trained to ~act~ as though the desert was stinging their eyes! lol! Oh, you guys!

I'm hoping it's just the anonymity of the internet that is allowing some of you people to run your mouths by making such absurd and cruel comments. I wonder how many of you would say half this sh!t to someone's face. I doubt anyone would, because in real life, this type of behavior is unacceptable. Anyone who supports animal abuse has got some kind of psychological problem(s), and if any of these comments have some base in reality, I encourage you all to get help. Those of you who don't care or are indifferent are just as bad. Eew, and you're reproducing, too? God help us!

Also, OP - I'm curious to know how many other judgment calls you make based on your kid's opinion. Yes, a 12 year old child is definitely old enough to spot animal cruelty when they see it, just like how we all did when we were 12. But we didn't really notice it then, now did we?

[–] americanmaniac-1 14 years ago

ANIMALS ARE PROPERTY - PEOPLE ARE NOT! How can you draw a parallel between this movie and child slavery/abuse? Can you purchase a child from the local Baby Store?

I, in no way approve of animal abuse. Personally, my dogs/cats sleep in my bed, never get left outside, they are spayed/neutered, fed/doctored properly and doted on constantly. I also love dogs more than most people I've met. My cats catch a lot of rodents around my property. Is that rodent abuse?

Do I think there was improper treatment of animals in this movie? Probably. Would it be something I would partake in myself? Highly doubtful. Will I continue to watch this movie regularly? Absolutely.

And if you think I wouldn't say the same thing in the "real world", you obviously have no clue who you are dealing with. I would let any tree-hugging, hippy leaf-eater know EXACTLY how I feel. It's called COURAGE OF CONVICTION!

"Angry White Man"

[–] Maggie71286 14 years ago

Cats catching rodents is nature, deliberately placing animals in dangerous situations for the sake of a movie is abuse. I hope you can understand that.
Love,
A tree-hugging,hippy leaf-eater

[–] DakotaKitten 14 years ago

You say animals are property, strange as i would label them companions and hey i'm not a hippy or a tree hugger, i don't believe in the global warming arguments, indeed i think global warming is a natural phenomenon but thats for a different thread.

M
http://www.darkrealmfox.com/film_reviews/

[–] ToxicShockTaco 13 years ago

"And if you think I wouldn't say the same thing in the "real world", you obviously have no clue who you are dealing with. I would let any tree-hugging, hippy leaf-eater know EXACTLY how I feel. It's called COURAGE OF CONVICTION!"

Sure I do. An anonymous idiot troll on the internet.

Have a great day!

[–] kkarls1 14 years ago

I used to watch this movie all of the time when I was a child, and loved it.

I just watched it again, for the first time since I was probably 7, at age 24. I was quite disturbed. I realized that there was no WAY in hell that this movie was made without puting small animals at extreme risk, or harming them in some way. I was like "Really, a pug is wrestling a bear? A bear is on the same tree as a kitten and the kitten's fur is standing on end and it's tail is puffed and it's clearly genuinely terrified?"

I mean, you can't "fake" these scenes; there was no such thing as CGI in 1986, and you can see the fear in the animals despite attempts to cover them up by the filmmakers. When Milo is floating down rough waters in his box, the kitten is meowing frantically in terror. He's scared! How could you shoot that safely? When the bear is going after the kitten, he's scared! His fur is puffed out and he's hissing in terror at the bear.

When I saw that this was Japanese made, my heart sank even further. The Japanese are known for their animal cruelty;(anybody seen "The Cove"?) They are huge fur-traders, and don't have any nationally-recongnized humane associations. I'm not saying this to bash the Japanese, I'm saying this because their track records with animals are not the best.

Mooshy, Mooshy, Mooshy!

[–] mnoe 14 years ago

I'm not saying this to bash the Japanese, I'm saying this because their track records with animals are not the best.

There's still quite a traffic in African elephant ivory in Asia, as well. It's a serious problem.

And, yes, people in the west used to buy pianos with elephant ivory keys. And, yes, westerns by John Ford and others have onscreen and offscreen horse deaths.

But I'm thankful that human beings can grow to understand that some behavior we used to take for granted is wrong.

The reason I'm at this thread at all is because
1. IMDb "recommended" this movie to me based on my interest in other animal pictures. Kind of ironic; I will never help this movie earn money (or ever watch it) because I am interested in animals.

And 2. I just watched a comedy (Four Lions) that had many depictions of human deaths, and ended with a line in the credits that went something like: "One sheep was blown up in the making of this film." The reason I was able to laugh at that line, and at the movie in general, is that it was obvious that no people OR animals actually died for my entertainment.

last 2 dvds: Take Aim at the Police Van (1960) & Four Lions (2010)

[–] Trouter2000 14 years ago

you see the dog get away...