Review: "Heart of the Beast"
Dogs have had a long history in Hollywood. Most famously, Rin Tin Tin is credited with saving Warner Brothers in the 1920s when the studio was falling on hard times.
The dog, rescued from the trenches of WWI as a puppy, went on to become a Hollywood legend and was afforded star treatment, including his own personal chef and small orchestra hired to play off camera during the filming. Following a spectacular career spawning a legion of loyal fans, he died in the arms of Jean Harlow who was a neighbor of the dog and his trainer. True story.
Canines have remained a mainstay in the movies. On a sidenote, they currently appear in a myriad of television commercials. It’s hard to find a TV spot that doesn’t feature a furry extra. The connection between humans and dogs dates back to the distant past when the two species became interdependent, hunting and surviving together.
Over the years, dogs have taken on other support roles: aiding the blind and the deaf, pulling wheelchairs, assisting in rescue and recovery missions, helping farmers herd their flocks, sniffing out bombs and illegal drugs for law enforcement agents, as well as offering psychological and emotional support to people of all ages. They also risk their lives fighting side by side with our military forces in fierce combat.
Heart of the Beast honors that connection. It’s a fictional story about the very real bond that exits between soldiers and their military dogs, and what happens to them after they return from the war.
Brad Pitt plays James Belmont, a retired Special Forces officer seeking a life of peace and solidarity in the Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog, Oden. Both have experienced the horror of modern day warfare. Oden’s titanium teeth and the loss of one of his legs bear witness to what he has sacrificed in keeping James alive during his tour of duty. Both are haunted by the nightmares of PTSD.
In an attempt to put their suffering in the past, James flies them deep into the wilderness to camp and fish. It’s an idyllic getaway until James experiences a heart attack and crashes the plane in the river of a dense forest in a heart stopping sequence that sets the story in motion.
With limited rations and the limited gear he is able to recover from the sunken, crashed plane (including a life sustaining bottle of aspirin) the two begin a treacherous journey back to civilization. Once again, their friendship will become the key to their survival.
One criticism of Heart of the Beast is that many of the key scenes are telegraphed in the movie’s trailers – the plane crash, their encounter with a grizzly bear, their failed attempt to cross a slippery log high above a raging river, their nocturnal encounter with ravenous wolves, just to name a few. To some degree, you know a lot about the plot prior to the opening credits.
What you don’t know is how it will end. The underlying fear with any dog movie is that the dog will die in the final reel. It’s something no dog lover wants to see. While I normally avoid major spoilers, I will make an exception here and say that Oden survives the long ordeal.
That is not to say that audiences won’t elicit some gasps and tears in this sometimes-brutal tale of survival (and man and beast vs. nature). Director David Ayer makes the most of the premise, fully exploring the deep emotional thread that make James and Oden inseparable and taking full advantage of dramatizing their dire predicament.
Brad Pitt and Oden (actually the four different dogs listed in the final credits who portrayed Oden) all deserve Oscars for heartwarming, touching performances.
Again, while Heart of the Beast isn’t based on actual events, the movie deserves recognition for bringing to light the role of veteran combat dogs and the attention, love and respect they deserve when they return home. The end credits establish the real-life statistics of a story that is often ignored and overlooked.
Heart of the Beast is a fitting tribute not only to the loyalty and bravery of combat dogs but to canine companions everywhere who spend their lives providing one of the greatest gifts we can ever experience in our lives – true, unconditional love.
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