My dog ​​Skip

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Movie
German title My dog ​​Skip
Original title My Dog Skip
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2000
length approx. 92 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Jay Russell
script Gail Gilchriest
production Broderick Johnson
John Lee Hancock
music William Ross
camera James L. Carter
cut Harvey Rosenstock
Gary Winter
occupation

My Dog Skip is an autobiographical colored American children and youth film of director Jay Russell in 2000. It is based on the eponymous novel by Willie Morris .

action

In 1942, nine-year-old Willie is a child who is constantly harassed by the bigger and stronger neighborhood children and no other child appears for his birthday. His father, a wounded veteran of the Spanish Civil War , wants to protect his son from the dangers of life and believes, unlike his mother, that Willie is not yet up to it. When Willie's best (and only) friend, the sports ace Dink Jenkins, who lives in the neighboring house, moves into World War II , his little friend is completely unhappy.

To cheer her son up, his mother gives him a young Jack Russell Terrier against his father's wishes . With this, the child gains a new friend with whom they experience many adventures and finally gain self-confidence. So Willie gets to know other children, a pretty girl he likes very much and a black boy who shows him his own world under the sign of the racial barriers. Even the neighborhood rowdies suddenly accept him and on top of that he gets closer to his father, who slowly realizes that the son is more mature than he judged him to be.

When Dink returned, it changed a lot. Nor is he seen by others as the great hero he was before he left. Only gradually does Willie discover that Dink has deserted and is therefore now cut off from his surroundings.

When Willie runs away in search of Skip and gets into the hands of alcohol traffickers, it is Dink who helps Willie.

description

The template is authored by William Morris, the youngest editor of Harper's Magazine . His book of the same name and the film adaptation are on the one hand a declaration of love to his own dog Skip, but on the other hand also to life in Yazoo City , Mississippi .

The film describes on the one hand a nostalgic memory of a happy childhood (which is particularly emphasized by the camera and music), on the other hand, many aspects of life at that time are portrayed realistically. The older friend is considered a hero at first and is later decried as a coward for an alcoholic. The complex moral situation of the deserter is made understandable, as is the attitude of the father, who went to war for idealistic reasons and, now crippled and emotionally embarrassed, wants to protect the son from the supposedly hard life. In addition, topics such as racism and prohibition are also dealt with.

Not all small viewers in the film, which is released from the age of 6, will also be able to perceive or process all of these elements. Rather, the film can even seem dark and very frightening. This is why it is sometimes referred to as a youth film , since children should only be able to understand all the storylines from around the age of 12.

Reviews

  • "The staging unobtrusively incorporates socio-political backgrounds [...] excellently played, photographed and accompanied by music, the [...] film offers successful entertainment - worth seeing from 8." ( Lexicon of International Films )
  • “'My dog ​​Skip' is a typical Hollywood production for the whole family [...] Director Russell lovingly staged the book as a sentimental look back at a time that in the collective memory of the Americans was still associated with a fairly ideal world . In Frankie Muniz, a convincing child actor was selected from a large number of applicants. The parents are played by renowned actors: Diane Lane as mother Ellen and Kevin Bacon as father Jack. The film is a rather harmless pleasure that hits the screens at the right time in the run-up to Christmas. "( Rhein-Zeitung )
  • The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Applebome: Willie Morris, 64, Writer on the Southern Experience. in: The New York Times . dated August 3, 1999, accessed September 2, 2014.
  2. ^ Willie Morris in: Encyclopædia Britannica . accessed on September 2, 2014.
  3. ↑ Flemming Schock: My dog ​​Skip on filmspiegel.de, accessed on September 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ Film review of Mein Hund Skip on kino.de, accessed on September 2, 2014.
  5. ^ Horst Peter Koll: Lexicon of International Films. Film year 2000. Schüren, Marburg 2001, ISBN 3-934-31110-5 , p. 253.
  6. ↑ Rhein-Zeitung : When the world was still intact in America : only child and single dog become friends, January 15, 2010.