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It would be miraculous if the nightly news could take a few minutes now and then away from informing us of the crime and abuse and injustice happening everywhere and focus instead on those who are making a vital difference. Just imagine how it would effect our lives if we could feel that all was not hopeless! At least we have this documentary on this hunky artist from upstate New York who is dedicating his life to starting up hospitals in some of the poorest rural places in the world. Places where there are no doctors, even in villages with tens of thousands of people. Places where even if there are schools, parents can't afford to send their children there (especially if they're girls). The (so far) other reviewer here ("borring") obviously didn't see this film, or is sorely lacking in intelligence as well as compassion and humanity because even the poorest Americans are supremely wealthy and lucky compared to the people we see in this film. And it's unconscionable that someone would have a 'what's in it for us?' attitude in terms of other nations "returning the favor". They do return the favor. These people will ultimately be fit enough to work and get educated and get jobs to pay taxes to ultimately help fund these sort of hospitals and schools themselves. I know, I've personally seen this with the boat schools and hospitals in Bangladesh.

Anyway, this is a mostly well-done documentary, perhaps spending a little too much time on our American Mother Teresa in place of giving us more information on the clinics and communities but there's still lots of information there and Michael Daube is an interesting guy. With his movie star looks someone should get Hollywood to make a movie about him. Some A-list actor like Brad Pitt could fund all of this organization's programs for twenty years just based on a salary for one movie alone(not counting residuals of course!).

First off, don't even attempt to watch this if you're not an avid dog lover. To be a true dog lover (excuse the pun... 'True' is also the name of the dog in the film's title) one not only feels an affection and admiration of dogs; they compulsorily get in tune with the mind of dogs with their patience, their gentleness, their playfulness, their wildness, their intelligence, their loyalty and their sense of wonder, amusement and dare I say, inherent Buddha Nature (living in the moment, being non-judgmental...). As one who has learned a lot about the inherent philosophy of dogs and has had the great luck to know the pure joy of their loving company, I can say that I loved this film. I also cried harder than I ever have for my dearest pooch who died over 25 years ago. I miss her every day.

Still, this film will have its detractors and I will say that I can understand why people might find this film 'difficult' or even unwatchable. It starts with a B&W vignette of a naked woman lounging around her parlor, then there's a vignette about Dirk Bogarde that seems to veer away from the subject of dogs, a vignette about a redneck family who raise dogs, horses and other animals, segments about war, surfing, Haiti, Liz Taylor, 9/11 and Martin Luther King, all interwoven with home movies of Weber's dogs and occasional clips form classic dog movies like Lassie & Rin Tin Tin. Is there something to this seemingly incoherent mess?

I think for most people it will be a giant headache. It worked for me because A) as a Dirk Bogarde fan (!) and a lover of home movies, I could have watched that vignette forever (Bogarde also presents some of the film's theme: "being me is being the person I always was... that child in the meadow... having that innocence again, the freedom, that possibility of life before you, to exist to live as simply and as happily as I can") and B) I somehow watched this movie from the perspective of True, the addressee of the proposed letter. How does life sum up in the mind of a dog? When I go shopping for food or go surfing or gardening or watching a movie, I think of my dog and I try to share that experience with her. I show her pictures in magazines and read her poetry so indeed, I feel a kinship to Bruce Weber for essentially doing the same with his dogs in this film (and I cradle my pooch in my arms and sway when I listen to music as I did while watching this film). This is a symbiotic vision of man and dog of this crazy often beautiful and often tragic world that we live in. From a dog's perspective, it's pretty crazy, sad and funny. Maybe if more humans could see how unnecessary our prejudices and our need to bend the world into our selfish desires really are, we'd have a better world. The movie invites us to let go of our instinctive prejudices (got a problem with nudity? Your dog is naked... what's the big deal?) and just see the world through dog eyes. Maybe happiness isn't as illusive as we think it is.