Film Response: Plague dogs

This movie was very eye opening as it expressed the horrors of animal testing through an animal's perspective. I have always strongly disliked the idea of animal testing, and this film has reinforced my opinion. It follows the life to two dogs who have been tested on for various reasons, and their lucky escape from the lab. Through a series of events, we find out more and more about how they were tested and what for. We learn that one of the dogs was tested for endurance through drowning and getting revived over and over again, while the other dog had undergone some brain surgery, all for human benefit. This film allowed the veiwer to live out the point of view of the animals in experiment labs, and how this kind of "testing" not only affects the animals physically, but psychologically as well. As humans, I think it is often hard for us to sympathize with animals, expecially when we do not always know what experiements are actually going on, as portrayed in the film. It is also difficult for us because we see the benefits
of this testing for humans, and there is no direct effect to us if the testing goes bad. This film allowed humans to go inside the head of the dogs, and see the other side of the picture. Although it was very hard to watch, I think this film is important, especially in our world today where so many people do not take animal life or feelings into consideration. The point of the film was to invoke strong emotion and empathy for the dogs, and to give the person watching it another point of view. When people hear about animal testing and the animal activists promoting better treatment, there seems to be a stigma attached that they think aminals are equal to humans. This movie did a good job at allowing anyone watching to feel pity for the dogs, without preaching for animal rights. It allowed us to see that animals really do have a lot of the same emotions that we have, and they react the way that we would in the same situation. This film was a good way to promote animal rights and to portray the same desires in animals, humans, and all beings, the desire to live.