Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival

‘Dare to Care’ is emblazoned across the Animal Welfare Helderberg’s bakkie. It’s a slogan that’s especially true for inspectors, Pieter and his fiancée Nadia, because to care is to have their hearts broken – a dozen times a day as they’re forced to euthanise healthy, abandoned pets. If society can be judged by how it treats its animals, Wild Dog & Mrs Heart exposes our throw-away, desperately ailing country – unable, unwilling, to take care of its own citizens, and even less so their animal companions. The harsh reality aside, it is from a deep wellspring of tenderness that Hendricks unflinchingly and unsentimentally tells this story, of the animals who share our homes and hearts, whose scars are scored and unfading on our skin.

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