Samuel Fuller
White Dog

Samuel Fuller was a fundamental auteur in American cinema. Beloved by Wim Wenders, who also cast him in two of his best films (The American Friend - where, not coincidentally, he played an outlaw, just like Nicholas Ray - and The State of Things, as well as in the less successful but nonetheless interesting and theoretical Invisible Crimes, where Fuller made his last appearance ever), by Godard, Tarantino, Jarmusch, Scorsese (who cites him in his documentary "A Century of Cinema - A Journey Through American Cinema by Martin Scorsese"), Amos Gitai (who pays homage to him in his Kippur), Abel Ferrara. Traces of Fuller's cinema can be found in the works of all these directors, as well as in a film of the caliber of Dances with Wolves, which Fuller, in its themes, anticipated by over three decades with Run of the Arrow. He also gave a brief role to a very young James Dean (uncredited) in Fixed Bayonets!

Often hindered by censorship, Fuller crossed genres (western, noir, gangster, war, drama...) and spoke about contradictions, hypocrisy, fake morals, the dark sides of America, and was a controversial and forward-looking director, making several war films in which he portrayed a completely anti-heroic and nihilistic vision (The Big Red One being the most important, but also Fixed Bayonets! - the latter featuring a final siege situation that seems to anticipate typical similar situations in Romero and Carpenter, and a level of violence that competes with that of Peckinpah), in antithesis to typical American cinematography. He always worked with limited budgets, talked about redemption, the Cold War, madness, and racism, as in White Dog (among others).

White Dog, indeed.

Fuller’s films, as I was saying, were troubled, sometimes heavily edited, often misunderstood or entirely misinterpreted, and because of this, they became unjustly controversial.

One of the most striking cases in this regard is precisely this film, one of his last works, which came two years after the aforementioned The Big Red One, his most famous and important work.

In Italy, it never had a true distribution; it has never been shown on TV nor had a DVD release. Years ago, I watched it downloaded, and today I was able to watch it and rediscover it thanks to Prime (praise be).

White Dog, indeed, is a film about racism. A film, needless to say, strongly, radically against racism, but in America it was mistaken for a film that was racist instead. Delirium of stupidity typical of the Yankees.

There are many films about racism, many of which, however, because of easy simplifications, never really delve deeply into the issue.

Among the many films on the subject, Fuller’s is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent and least trivial, and for this reason, among the very best.

The film shows how human brutality is infinitely greater and more deeply rooted, and especially mean-spirited, compared to that of a dog. The dog, seeing the world in black and white and due to its own emotional nature, does not judge based on race but in a purely instinctual and visual manner. There is no racism in a dog, even when trained to attack a black man. The dog acts out of fear and hatred that is scientifically instilled in it by man through systematic and long-perpetuated violence.

Fuller therefore reflects broadly on an entire society and the ancient and deep nature of the racist phenomenon. And also on how, once the problem is identified, the simpler path of repression is often preferred over the cure. A cure that, however, is extremely difficult to find. Once hatred and violence are transmitted, it is difficult for them to be truly and entirely eradicated. In some cases, the germ cannot be uprooted, the poison lies too deep within the guts to be cured. In a dog, as in a culture.

Some scenes are undoubtedly disturbing, but in the worst cases the off-screen filter is used, which nevertheless makes those same moments more painful and sometimes atrocious.

Soundtrack by Morricone, an extraordinary film, also provocative at times, among the best of the '80s and of Fuller himself, which I recommend everyone to find. A strong and cruel experience, but one that is worth going through for true reflection.