BEWARE! - Animal cruelty shown!

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2000)

This film contains a scene in which a rabbit is being hunted by dogs. The camera follows its movements and there is a cut shortly before the dogs supposedly get to the hare. Then, in a different shot, we see the rabbit getting away.
Showing animals in jeopardy is not an option to attract viewers nor to shock. The budget for this film has been far to low to create this shot virtually. Also, I think that the rabbit that got away was a different one. Even if it got away, it still was being hunted with a chance of getting killed, so it doesn't really matter what happened after the cut.
In my humble opinion, Mr. Ritchie has overstressed his competences with this. Up to that moment, I enjoyed the film, but from then onward, all of the events were meaningless, boring and not enjoyable at the slightest. Why? Because movie-making is the art of illusion. In this case, I have been shown something that was definitely NOT an illusion, and this event destroyed the band of trust that develops between the viewers and the screen. The director is handed over the viewer's emotions, he then is in charge of leading, forming and influencing them. There are rules to this game, and Mr. Ritchie has broken them. That is not only irresponsible, but also bad filmmaking and needs to be punished.