Movies Featuring Greyhounds

While searching for something else on a Greyhound message board recently, I came across an old thread about movies that have Greyhounds in them. In one I posted a few brief reviews of movies that I've revised and preserved here.

Sorceress

Released: 1987 (French with English Subtitles)
Starring: Christine Boisson, Tchéky Karyo
Director: Suzanne Schiffman

Originally released in France as Le Moine et la sorcière (The Monk and the Witch), Sorceress chronicles the medieval legend of a greyhound that killed a large snake which was attacking a baby. In the process of killing the snake, the greyhound knocks over the baby's cradle and the child is covered by the cradle and his bedding. Upon returning home, the knight finds the baby's nursery in shambles, the cradle overturned and the child apparently gone, and seeing blood on the greyhound's jaws, comes to the conclusion that the dog has killed the child. After killing the greyhound in a rage, he hears the baby's cry and finds him safe under his bedding beside the dead snake. Realizing his tragic error, the knight has the greyhound canonized as a saint contrary to the laws of the Church. Saint Guinefort, as she is known by the locals, is revered as a protector of children for centuries afterward.

Everything is fine until Etienne de Bourbon, an Inquisitor, comes to the village to investigate this heresy. There, he discovers Elda, a local healer and mystic. His authority and theology comes into direct conflict with her own practical faith and devotion to healing. As the story unfolds, it is clear that de Bourbon is having difficulty resolving his own doubts as his beliefs are tested by Elda and the villagers. More subtly portrayed is his willful suppression of his physical attraction to her beauty.

This is a fine movie that suffers little from the sub-titles. The French dialogue gives it a level of authenticity that might be lost in the dubbed English version. Christine Boisson is bewitching as Elda, the sorceress, and Tchéky Karyo is convincing as the Inquisitor. The pace of this movie might be too deliberate and its tone too philosophical for some, but it is historically accurate and a stunning piece of filmwork. Highly recommended.


Evelyn

Released: 2002 (U.S.)
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Vavasseur, Julianna Margulies, Aidan Quinn
Directors: Bruce Beresford, Jerry Hogrewe

The movie is very loosely based on an actual 1955 court case where a father challenged Irish law in the Supreme Court to regain custody of his kids. Pierce Brosnan, who co-produced the film, portrays Desmond Doyle, a man who must overcome a reputation as a hard-drinking and often temperamental tradesman with a lackadaisical attitude to fatherhood before his wife abandons him and their children. After his daughter is packed off to a Catholic orphanage, he has to fight two battles, one to gain custody of her, and another to reform himself.

Often short of work, one obstacle Doyle must surmount is raising funds for legal fees. A kindly, but obviously unscrupulous track official gives him a hot tip to bet on a greyhound named Slippery Sam, a long-shot. Unbeknownst to Doyle, he feeds sausages to all the other dogs except Sam to influence the outcome of the race. The racing scene is fairly brief and shown at various angles, occasionally out-of-focus and partly in slow motion, not to depict the precise events of the race, but to try to capture the emotions of the race from the perspective of the crowd.

Overall, this is a pretty good movie and gives one a good feel for Ireland in the 1950s. Despite the serious nature of the subject, there were some humorous moments as well. Brosnan was believable as a gritty Irish working man and father. The remaining cast was very strong—the child actors were especially competent. As a greyhound racing fan and a former Rugby player, I appreciated the attention to detail in depicting these two sports on film. Recommended.