Inja (2002)

This Australian film is directed by Steven Pavolsky and is also featured on a Film Movement DVD magazine. At its core, it’s a thinly veiled moralizing tale on where the evils of racism will lead; the setting of the movie informs the tone and the content more than any of the characters do. I think people often get distracted by pathos when animals are hurt in films and literature, but shouldn’t it shock and anger us more when people are hurt or killed by other people? Just as the titled dog in Inja is taught to hate based on skin color, so are people living in South Africa – and many other places throughout the world. And in accordance with the point the film makes, it hurts those willing to hate the most. It is destructive for communities, nations, and small family homes. Pavolsky makes a fantastic point, I just wish it wasn’t lost on audiences who are more willing to feel for a defenseless dog than for thousands of (equally defenseless?) fellow human beings.