Raindance Film Festival 2024: Dog War

Cantering around the dog meat industry in South Korea, Andrew Abrahams’s documentary Dog War tackles a premise that viewers will find upsetting. The thought of slaughtering animals that are loved as loyal family pets will be undoubtedly shocking for many. For a pair of US combat veterans, the idea is so reprehensible that they’ve made it their mission to save as many dogs as they can from farms across the country. But this is only the tip of the iceberg in this documentary. The filmmaker uses the veterans’ rescue mission as a starting point to explore the wider debate surrounding the consumption of dog meat in South Korea, painting a picture of a nation undergoing transition.

Covertly infiltrating a handful of farms and wet markets, the rescuers give viewers a harrowing insight into the cruel and unsanitary conditions that the animals are kept in. As distressing as these images are, Abrahams shows restraint when it comes to depicting the cruelty these animals suffer onscreen. Aside from some brief clips towards the end that show animals about to be killed in violent ways, the worst viewers are subjected to are accounts of what kind of barbaric treatment the dogs are subjected to. Though the content is nowhere as viscerally shocking as that of Earthlings, Dog War is nevertheless a difficult watch at times.

Using a wide range of interviews with academics, activists and even those involved in the controversial trade, the filmmaker establishes a comprehensive picture of how the dog meat industry is viewed in South Korea. It’s a debate drawn across a generational divide; but as more young Koreans become increasingly vocal against the practice, attitudes are changing as to what is still viewed as a national tradition. While the film’s brisk runtime means there’s not much time to go into much detail about the points raised, the documentary succeeds in laying out the various issues that make this debate morally and legally complicated.

A documentary that’s about more than the cruelty of the dog meat industry, Dog War is an examination of a nation approaching a turning point in its history. 

Andrew Murray

Dog War has its World Premiere at Raindance Film Festival on 23^rd June 2024. It does not yet have a UK release date.

Watch the trailer for Dog War here: