“Of Dogs and Men” (original title in Hebrew is “Al klavim veanashim”) is the first or one of the first feature films to deal with the tragic events that took place on October 7, 2023 and their aftermath. It premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival and has since been shown at several other festivals, but it is still awaiting a wider distribution. Is it too early? Maybe so, given that the war that started that day is not completely over, that so many wounds are still open and so many tragic situations have not yet been elucidated. The film is directed by Dani Rosenberg and this is his third feature film. I am not sure that this film will be the one that will launch his career, but I have to applaud his courage and originality. In fact, the word courage has a double meaning here, because Dani Rosenberg, Ori Avinoam (who at 18 is a co-writer and the lead actress) and their team not only dared to tackle a theme that is still a huge national trauma and a complex and controversial political subject, but they also filmed in very difficult conditions, in the devastated kibbutzim in an area close to the Gaza war, while rocket alarms were constantly happening and and bombings were not too far away. This makes of ‘Of Dogs and Men‘ not only a painfully topical docu-drama but also a document about what happened on October 7th and what followed, opening a discussion about the relationship between documentary and fiction cinema when it comes to immediate current events.
Dar is a 16-year-old teenager from Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the settlements most hit by the attacks of October 7th. She knows nothing about the fate of her mother, who had saved her life by hiding her in the armored shelter while she distracted the terrorists who had taken her hostage. A few weeks after that tragic day, Dar returns to the deserted town to search for Shula, the family dog, who had disappeared that day. What follows and what we see is a tragic road movie, with the girl alone searching for her animal friend in a desolate, burned, destroyed landscape, permeated with death and the absence of the missing. The war continues a few kilometers away, the alarms still follow each other at frequent intervals, the images and sounds of explosions are constant. In the almost deserted landscape, a few survivors try to understand what happened. A slightly older survivor thinks about his Arab friend in Gaza who is probably in mortal danger and remembers his hopes – now shattered – of coexistence. A young woman seeks to save animals left without owners. The victim identification teams have not yet completed their painful mission. The landscape seems post-apocalyptic, but everything is filmed in real settings, in the Nir Oz and Beeri kibbutzims, in November 2023.
The script was written in a few weeks, immediately after October 7. The teenager’s wanderings through the war zone alternate with fragments of her mother’s diary, read by voice-over, which give consistency to the character of the missing woman and connect it to the history and life of the kibbutz in the 40 years before the events. The feeling of authenticity is amplified by the fact that many of those who appear on screen are residents of the area or soldiers there on a mission. The cinematography is shocking and the use of a mobile camera creates the impression of a reportage. Ori Avinoam‘s performance is exceptional, she has a talent and expressiveness that promise that she will become a great actress. The perspective is Israeli, but the echoes of what is happening on the other side of the conflict are constantly present. The film avoids any explicit political message and focuses on the human experience, the trauma caused by violence, destruction and war. ‘Of Dogs and Men‘ is a well-made docu-drama both as a documentary and as a drama. By focusing on the impact on the people whose destinies are crushed in this conflict, simply conceived and effectively made, this film manages to be both a testimony and to create emotion.