Beyond the Myth: A Film About Pit Bulls and Breed Discrimination (2010)
*** (out of 4)
Good, but flawed, documentary taking a look at the various cities across the U.S. that are trying to put a ban on pit bulls. Some of these cases include Denver, CO where pit bulls are being removed from owners even if the animal didn't cause any sort of damage or harm to anyone. Other cities like Cincinnati are being looked at for bans that have been on the book since the late 80s when the documentary claims that the media's negative reporting on pit bulls caused people to have a false stereotype of the dog. A friend informed me about this documentary and I'll gladly admit that at first I feared it would just be some one-sided propaganda film by dog lovers for dog lovers. I do feel there were a few moments that were too one-sided but I think the message of the film was quite clear. I think most people, even those who hate dogs, will see that there are some pretty strange things being done to these animals and I'm sure even the most jaded person would see that there's no point in innocent dogs being taken away from owners for no reason. Yes, these people could always just move but the documentary wants to make the point that discrimination against dogs is no different than basing an opinion on a human for how they look. I will admit that I never put a dog's life over that of a human, which might not sit well with people. I found a few of the comments here to be very one-sided and I must admit that I found some to be rather offensive including remarks that say it's never a dog's fault when something bad happens. The film blames the owners and it even blames the parents of kids who are left unattended to be attacked by a dog. In certain situations this might be true but the documentary overlooks incidents where no owner or kid were at fault and something bad still happened. With that said, there's no denying that director Libby Sherrill had created a well-made movie. A few more details or opinions from the other side would have certainly helped to balance out the film but it still got its main job done.