The 5 Best Movies With Dogs

When trying to make a selection of the best movies with dogs, it is impossible to escape personal taste. We decided to move away from the cliché of superhero dogs who can do everything and do it with self-denial; also those films in which the dog behaves more like a human being than an animal have been left out.
We favored those films that portray the dog without stereotypes and humanizations, which focus on how we humans relate to these fantastic animals.

Our selection of the best movies with dogs

Here are five films about dogs, shot in different periods, languages ​​and countries. We invite you to complete this small ranking with the feature films that have moved you most in your life.

1- Umberto D. (1952)

Film directed by Vittorio de Sica. He continues to move us for the simplicity and realism with which he tells the life of an elderly man reduced to poverty.

Evicted from the pension where he lives with the dog Flaik, his only company, Umberto decides to end it all. He tries – unsuccessfully – to find accommodation for his dog. Desperate, the man finally takes the dog in his arms and stops on the tracks waiting to be run over by a train. But the dog struggles and the old man, running to look for him, gives both of them a new opportunity.

2- Me & Marley (2008)

American film, directed by David Frankel, which sees Owen Wilson as a human protagonist. The film presents the delicate dog-owner relationship over the course of 14 years with sensitivity and depth.

Marley is a Labrador dog who also manages to win the heart of the protagonist’s wife, played by Jennifer Aniston. The story is taken from the autobiographical book by journalist John Grogan.

3- Amores perros (2000)

Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film debut may or may not be liked. But certainly one does not remain indifferent to the strength of his images and the intensity of the intertwining in the plot.

Thus, among the conflicts of humanity, dogs make their appearance. Dogs used in clandestine fights, stray dogs welcomed by a former guerrilla who supports himself by being a hitman, dogs who live a comfortable life and who literally get lost under the floor of a luxury apartment.

4 – Bombón – El perro (2004)

This film by Carlos Sorín, shot in Argentine Patagonia, tells the story of a man who finds himself unemployed at the age of 50. His life takes an unexpected turn when, after repairing an elderly woman’s car, she repays him by giving him a dog.
In the beginning, man does not know what to do with the animal, an impressive example of an Argentine dogo. But the dog, thanks to its pedigree, opens completely unexpected doors to the protagonist, introducing him to the world of canine competitions.

5- Truman – A true friend is forever (2015)

Image source: Truman facebook page

The protagonist is a lonely man, an Argentine actor exiled to Madrid (Ricardo Darín) and terminally ill. One of his few remaining goals is to find a new owner – the best, the most reliable – for his dog Truman, a faithful companion of his later years. Catalan director Cesc Gay unconventionally manages a story that, in other hands, could have turned into a tearful drama.

Special mention goes to Troilo, a beautiful example of Bullmastiff  (recently deceased) who plays Truman and who, in addition to moving us in the film, had been trained to care for autistic children.

Source of the main image: Facebook page Marley & me