“If you’ve ever owned a dog, don’t miss this film about loyalty, devotion and undying love “ - It’s about “Hachiko: A dog’s tale”, an American movie based on the true story about a dog in Japan, who had been waiting for his owner to return from work at the station every day until the owner passed away at the beginning of the 20th century.
Scripted by Stephen P. Lindsey and directed by Lasse Hallstrom, this drama film released in August 2009 with a mainstream budget. Parker Wilson found a lost puppy at the station and took the dog to his home because the station controller refused to take care of the puppy. He named the dog “Hachi” after he learnt about Japanese symbol’s meaning on the dog’s collar. There seemed to be a bond between the professor and Hachi. Every morning, when Parker left for work, Hachi followed him to the train station and every later afternoon, the dog walked to the station, waited patiently for the owner to return from work and then they went home together. One day, Parker suddenly had a heart attack and died at work meanwhile Hachi was still waiting patiently for him at train station. He was lying in the snow and waited for many hours until Parker’s son in-law came and brought him to home. The dog didn’t realize that his owner wouldn’t come back ever again so next morning, Hachi returned to the trained station and waited from dawn till dusk , and the next day, he tried to escape from his new owner’s house to come to the train station again as usual. So day by day, Hachi walked to the train station and waited for his owner hopelessly and patiently for next nine years. Until one day, he happily met Parker Wilson in his dream when he had a forever sleep; he would not ever wake up gain.
The story is innovative in some way. In the true story, a Japanese professor just took in Hachiko as a pet like normal dogs in real life whereas in the movie script, Hachi was called “a lost dog”. At the beginning of the movie, Hachi fell off from his cage, walked around at the station and finally he heard his owner’s voice and stopped walking as seeing Prof. Parker Wilson. Hachi could see many people at the station so why he kept walking around and he just stopped when seeing Parker. It must be a mysterious dog. I think it is an interesting additional detail and the screen writer used this detain to emphasize on the strong bond between Hachi and his owner. Thus, this “lost” dog didn’t seem to be lost; he was on the right way to find his right owner.
In addition, the sound track used in the movie is very effective and appropriate. I think the music, especially the theme song piano “Goodbye” partly contributed to the movie’s success. It’s really a sad and touching song. Whenever I listened to the sound track, I cried and I guess that it can touch the deepest of our heart without knowing it. The most touching part is when Parker’s wife met Hachi again still at the train station after 9 years. In the sad melody of “Goodbye”, the image of Hachi, an old and lonely dog with his dim eyes, who still stood there and waited until he died touches much more deeply the audiences’ heart.
The symbolism also contributed greatly to success of the movie. The movie shows us how people and dogs are more than just friends and how a dog's love for its master never fades even after his/her death. Moreover, somehow, thanks to Hachi’s devotion, we can learn about love; there is no power bigger than love and nothing compares to this feeling. It seems to be that everything in the world is all ruled by love and if we thought that only human are aware of love and have feeling, we did it wrong.
To sum up, although it is only a remake, it is a worth-watching movie and sometimes we cannot hold back our tear as feeling a dog’s love- an undying love.