Pick of the Litter ★★★★
ON a cuteness scale alone the 2018 documentary Pick of the Litter scores four stars.
This is a perfect film for animal lovers, following the varying fortunes of five Labrador puppies being raised to potentially become guide dogs for the blind.
It’s a film the entire family can revel in with moments of unbridled joy and understandable sadness.
Tjhere is nothing particularly special about the visual style or treatment, aside from the camera getting down onto dog level at times to give the audience a fuller perspective.
But co-directors Don Hardy Jnr and Dana Nachman (who also wrote the script) know how to effectively balance entertainment and education through careful selection of sound bites from the many and varied human characters and, of course, keeping those cute puppies front and centre at all times.
We join the five pups – Patriot, Potomac, Phil, Primrose and Poppet – from the moment they are birthed by their mother, who is also from guide dog stock.
The process that follows is a painstaking one for everyone involved, but can have incredible rewards at its conclusion.
Over the course of their first 18 months we follow the pups as they are sent to volunteer ‘raisers’ expressly chosen to intensively rear them ready for formal training and testing for a final month.
Only then are decisions made as to whether the dogs are able and responsible enough to be assigned to a blind owner.
For those that don’t make it there are two other options – simply becoming a normal pet or, for the females, if they are judged to have the right temperament, becoming a breeder of potential future guide dogs.
The film makes it clear that the absolute priority is to match a dog with a blind person and ultimately nothing can stand in the way of trying to reach this goal.
For the volunteer raisers, who selflessly and tirelessly work with the puppies, this can be a heart-rending experience when it comes time to hand them back or the association decides earlier that the puppy raising isn’t working for some reason with a particular family.
The emothional strength of the film is not just in these moments, but also in the amazing reactions from the greatful recipients of all this work and devotion.
The film does a highly efficient job of covering every aspect and role in volved in the process, including the association representatives who have to make all the difficult, but ncessary, decisions.
Unless you don’t like dogs (who are you?) Pick of the Litter is an engrossing, entertaining, educational and emotional little roller-coaster of a film .
Highly recommended for the entire family.
Pick of the Litter is showing at the Perth International Film Festival from 24 to 30 December at UWA Somerville and 1 to 6 January 2019 at ECU Joondalup Pines.
At some screenings there will be guide dogs and association representatives in attendance: 27, 28 and 29 December at Somerville and 5 and 6 January at Joondalup Pines.