A couple of movies with animals...

Just in case you are wondering about watching one or a couple of good movies over the weekend and you are having trouble finding a good movie title that interests you, or if the movies currently on cinema don´t seem appealing enough for you to spent money on a movie ticket,then I have a few proposals of my own that may (or may not) be of you interest.


But first let me ask you a question_Do you like movies with animals on it ?_If your answer is yes then you will have no problem with the titles that I´m about to give you,and if the answer is no that maybe because (I´m only guessing) you may find that movies with animals are a dumb waste of time,or they are only fit for little children or even only fit for animal lovers that saw Lassie over 500 times and still cry every time they see it. You probably like a movie with a good script that tells a great story and is good enough for you to watch it twice or maybe three times,_If this is the case never fear because these particular movies with animals that i am about to show you are also great stories with some of the best scripts that i´ve ever seen.

The first one and without following any particular order of preference is an old classic called Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) starring Burt Lancaster which plays the part of a famous inmate named Robert Stroud who was imprisoned as a young Man for committing a murder. After that he is sentenced to life in prison for killing a prison guard and sentenced to solitary confinement for the rest of is life.

That could be the end of the story all by itself, or you could watch a quick version from the life of a man trapped behind bars without even the smallest shred of humanity left to testify that he was once a man and not having those small luxuries that we take for granted every day and are a part of life. But that wouldn´t be much of a movie except if you like sick emotions. Sometimes those who are deprived from everything can see great wonder and beauty in the smallest of things, and that is what this movie is all about.

Just to give you a short taste of the story,_ one day Stroud who is passing away in the exercise yard like a caged animal on a stormy night is surprised by a tree twig that falls on the yard. On it a small infant sparrow is chirping away in distress and Stroud driven by a strange impulse keeps the little bird for himself, an isolated act which will originate in a great personal change not only for him but also for life in prison itself. The movie as an added flavour to it since it is based on a real story although over the years and even today there are those who claim that the movie is some sort of original scam to sanctify the hardcore incorrigible and brutal murderer Stroud really was but to those sort of critics I ask them to look at the movie from the mere cinematographic aspect of the story since so much is lost due to categorizing things as good or bad, Stroud was no angel that´s for sure, but lived a life interesting enough to make a spectacular movie from it with much less than those who claim to be pauper have.

This is a movie not only for animal or bird lovers but also for those who believe in redemption or simply like a good story.

Please, if you are one of those persons who like to have a great cinematic experience and believes it can only be provided by a twenty first century digital experience filled with hypnotic colors,3D glasses and an orgy of special effects think again. Yes, Birdman of Alcatraz is an old movie a real classic filmed in black and white but has some of the greatest images and photography that i´ve seen on screen accompanied by a soundtrack that is most fitting to the development of the story.

Indeed a true classic that required a fitting remake of it´s genre for a new century that is so much in need of redemption and beauty.

Also based on a true story is Never Cry Wolf (1983),now I feel a real need not to jump ahead and tell you what a great movie this is (which is true) without giving you a small personal view of he movie itself. When I first heard that Disney studios produced this movie I felt that unease feeling of suspicion towards it since I wasn´t in the mood to watch a cute,fluffy, parent authorized perspective of the wolf depicted for an eight year old point of view. I certainly was and am sick of watching movies based on wolves filled with blood shed and the brutal attack of wild beasts on scout teenagers who wandered too far into the wild, or another sad and stupid version of werewolves with a never ending thirst for blood and human guts. I wanted to see a truthful story that showed this magnificent animal for what it is and not a twisted version from the nightmarish or embellishing human mind think of what a wolf is supposed to be, since man is never at ease with the magnificent and truthful beauty of nature. So it was a bit reluctant that I saw Never Cry Wolf for the first time and...to my surprise, I was amazed. I mean there is so much beauty in this movie that it would take much time for me to depict all of it and give you a truthful personal insight of what the movie is all about. On it you will find great beauty of many genres and also a great music score (one of the best) by Mark Isham which composed a soundtrack so powerful and filled with beauty that it falls under the category of music one can hear on a daily basis. But about the movie itself, the story is a narrative of a biologist named Tyler played by Charles Martin Smith who travels to the Arctic to undergo a study of why the population of caribou is decreasing in numbers and if the Arctic Wolves have anything to do about the decreasing count of caribous herds. Alone in a strange and isolated land inhospitable and far from every comfort of the modern world he fears what may be lurking in the dark and is awaken from sleep from his own demons who take the shape of the wolf with whom he is not yet familiarized with. Reality itself will bring many pleasant surprises to the story as well as some sad ones when Lavery finally comes face to face with this strange and mysthical creature who in the end resembles Man in so many ways.


There are quite a few movies that I could recommend to you that depict the interaction between Man and animals but for now I believe that these two titles will be more than enough for the weekend.

I hope you enjoy.