"A Letter to True"
Filmmaker/photographer Bruce Weber has a genuine love
for the earth's creatures, particularly his gang of
golden retrievers and a cat named Tyson. He extends
his undying affection for his animal brood to his
philosophies of life and uses his love for the
faithful canines as a metaphor for hope and world
peace in "A Letter to True."
This is a very personal film, more a treatise on the
auteur's view of the world than a "documentary," that
begins with the introduction of his beloved dogs –
Palomino, True, Sailor, Polar Bear, Little Bear, Big
Sky, Hope, Rain, Gus and Cloud (and their feline
mascot Tyson) – and continues with his examination of
the relations between man and his favored beasts.
Weber interweaves, along with his heartfelt homage to
his pooches, home movies of Dirk Bogard in Provence,
France; a visit to a burro ranch owned by
animal-loving rednecks; conversations with another dog
lover, Elizabeth Taylor; the life and death of veteran
Life magazine photographer Larry Burrows, who was
killed by friendly fire in Vietnam in 1971; the plight
of illegally detained Haitians in the US; surfing and
surfers; a segment on Martin Luther King, and more.
Unfortunately, helmer Webber does not maintain focus
with all of his disparate story lines that cover loads
of territory. His love for animals, especially his
dogs, is the underlying thread of hope in "A Letter to
True" but this statement is confused by the variety
and different directions of Weber's other streams of
his consciousness.
If you can get by the confusing message(s) and
different viewpoints given over the course of "A
Letter to True" and concentrate on the dog stuff,
you'll get a heartfelt, honest view of a man and his
dogs. (In one touching sequence, Weber tells of two of
his goldies, Little Bear and Polar Bear. When Little
Bear, the mentor to Polar Bear, dies, the younger dog
exhibits an eerily human-like period of grieving that
has the most impact in the film.)
"A Letter to True" – an actual letter written over the
course of the film to Weber's favorite retriever,
True, essentially pouring the writer's heart out to
his dog – is, in part, a number of interesting
discourses on subjects near and dear to the
filmmaker's heart. But, the disjointed nature of the
work kept me from embracing it. Although, I wouldn't
mind playing with all of the puppies! I give it a C.
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38795 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1326850 X-RT-TitleID: 1136015 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1488 X-RT-RatingText: C
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