Isle of dogs

A stop-motion animated movie, written and directed by Wes Anderson, packed with references that project us into a hypothetical, rather gloomy future with a totalitarian flavour… in short, a movie about today. The similarities and parallels with the reality of the Covid-19-era are mind blowing and after a few minutes one wonders if the director was already aware of the todays world strategy implemented by governments for total control.

Presented at the Berlinale 2018, the movie is about a dog flu that affects all dogs in Japan. In order to prevent that the flu mutates and infects human beings, all dogs are deported and put in a quarantine on an island. The antidote or, if you prefer, the vaccine is almost ready, but the highest Japanese authorities are focusing on disinformation, prolonging the state of emergency that was only intended to be temporary.

A little boy, nephew of the “bad guy” aka the mayor, does not accept it and to find his beloved Spots, steals a plane and manages to land on the isle of dogs. From here on the plot gets more complicated and I stop to avoid spoiling too much.

The dogs speak and are dubbed by a guild of fantastic actors including Brian Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel just to name a few.

Minimal, deep and intense dialogues for a dark movie with a taste of premonition, as a warning for the imminent disaster that affects our lives today.

Concepts such as propaganda, disinformation, genocide, fear, distrust, marginalization, depression, conspiracy, resistance, self-denial, sacrifice create the substratum from which emerge feelings of strong empathy, friendship, loyalty and love.

Despite a gloomy and particularly hopeless opening, the movie also displays the best of the human being.