Spent a Wednesday afternoon watching 'Hachiko : A Dog's Tale' with Jane. It's disappointing to not see her crying out freely when I have a pair of real swollen eyes exiting the theatre and she had the guts to laugh at me. Argh... COLD HEARTED!
It's surprising that the one thing that left a strong impression on my memory wasn't anything about the dog. I am weird. I remember when the daughter of Richard Gere's character (funny how I couldn't remember his name - perhaps it's due to the people around him keep referring to him as Professor) brought her boyfriend home and when the 2 men were happy grilling the slices of meat, Richard Gere wasn't interested in anything the boyfriend was saying and quickly stopped his blabbering by asking him, "Do you love my daughter?". He was stunned but he answered, "Yes." And Gere went on to say, "Good. That's the only thing you need to remember when you two are going through rough patches" (not quite the exact words from his dialogue). I was taken aback and was amazed at how true and witty that line was. I wonder if my father would ask the same thing to my boyfriend. I remember reading an article whereby the author said that we do not measure how much we love someone but by measuring how much we love someone when we do not love him/her. That line was confusing but the statement by Gere was enlightening.
Okay, let's get back to Hachi, the dog. Yes, that's the dog's name, not Hachiko. It did beg the question in my mind, why would they name the movie, Hachiko not Hachi but I guess that doesn't quite matter. The film wasn't that interesting until ironically, Richard Gere died. But I think they built the story perfectly to draw the degree of compassion out of the viewers to its optimum level. I like it also that they didn't put Hachi in the limelight throughout the whole film. For instance, during the wedding of Gere's daughter, Hachi was only sitting on the couch (or was it a chair?) observing the celebration. His life and his surroundings were viewed according to how Hachi would observe it. Everything happens naturally - nothing that an owner and his dog wouldn't do.
There was however a bit of a gap there that I think can be filled up. Like, the ball Professor was squeezing with. It got out of his hand when he collapsed. The writer could have had the ball returned to either Hachi in some way or just do something with it. They built it as it was a first for Hachi to fetch but didn't make anything out of it. I thought that wasn't tied up nicely. I also hated to see Hachi sleeping under a container on the railway line when the Professor's daughter could have done something about it. That was when I cried the most. I know the characters kept insisting that is what's best for him and we should let him do that blah blah blah... to show that human beings know what a dog wants but if we, humans do think we know what's best for him, it should also have come across our mind that he needs a shelter to spend the nights at and the dark and cold railway line isn't the best place to lay our heads on. Nobody seems to care where he would go in the night. They were all just amazed and moved by the fact that he waits outside the train station at 9 in the morning and 5 in the evening. That part to me, was a bit unrealistic. If I love my dad so much, I am pretty much sure that I will treat his precious stuffs like they're precious to me as well let alone, it's a living creature.
But all in all, it's a one hour and a half worth spending in the theatre. Many people claimed that they want a dog after watching this. Nah, it didn't inspire me in doing that at all. Maybe I've witnessed the downside of having one (or worse, more) right before my eyes hence the apathy. And it only goes to show Hachi's case is a one in a million. So don't put your hopes so high when you get yourself a dog. I remember once foreseeing my hamster will do all the same things like Hamtaro did in the famous Japanese cartoon but he didn't. Guess that gave me a lesson.
Wouldn't you want your dog to wait for you by the LRT station when you return home from a long day?
