CELLULOID: WILD DOG MAESTRO J. Ricardo Félix

WILD DOG

Master Jesús Ricardo Félix

How many times have they been told: don't talk about politics or religion? When you were a child you went to the family barbecue your uncles went to the PRI or the PAN for the same reason you shouldn't touch on certain topics. Then, in the same school, the debate seemed to have a negative connotation, either because it raises the differences between two individuals or groups, taboo topics are addressed, or the participants simply dedicate themselves to attacking the person and not looking for arguments. I don't know if it's a matter of northern Mexico, the country or Latin America, but it's clear to me that we don't have the culture of debate. The moment someone raises an idea that differs from ours, we win the visor and attack the individual to the point of turning it into a personal lawsuit. In short, the one who practices the sport of debate either thinks he is too smart or is a troublemaker. But if we do not have the capacity to accept or assimilate our differences, how are we going to be prepared to understand or even accept different ways of thinking or living? That is why this weekend we will talk about the cinema of a multicultural country like India that has suffered firsthand the evils of religious fanaticism. Wild Dog is a 2021 Hindi film directed by Ahishor Solomon. Based on real events, it addresses the issue of the attacks that occurred in the city of Hyderabad at the end of 2011. Hidden in two bicycles, a group of mujahideen planted bombs that killed a total of eleven people in crowded sectors of the city. As movies like Slumdog Millionaire 2008 have already suggested, despite the fact that the dominant religion is Hinduism, there is also a percentage that professes Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, etc.

In Operation Wild Dog a former combatant, whose family has been victims of the attacks, is already retired from the NIA, the largest antiterrorist agency in India. The wild dog has earned this nickname because he does not play by the rules of the police forces, on the contrary he has the reputation that the bad guys do not survive their missions. The Hindu government intends to convince him to come out of retirement to find the intellectual author of the attacks: Yasin Bhatkal. The problem is that he and his group of soldiers are sent to Nepal on a covert mission without having the resources of an official mission. based on real events but for that reason sometimes it lacks realism and at times it seems that we are seeing a parody starring the Almada brothers. The action scenes sometimes look like Bollywood choreography and you can't miss the music that reminds you that you are watching an Indian movie.

Definitely recommended for those movie lovers who like to explore cinema from different latitudes. It is an entertaining film, which sometimes turns into unintentional comedy, but it deals with a very serious subject like the fight against terrorism. The formula sometimes seems a bit Hollywood since the protagonist is like a Rambo with a high content of jingoism. Another element that cannot be missing is that of corruption, although in the case of the wild dog the hero fights against it. To avoid falling into Islamophobia, the director distributes different creeds among the characters of the heroic elite corps: Hindus, a Muslim and a Christian.