Hachi
Richard Gere does a phenomenal job in the touching film, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. He plays the part of a Professor of music in an east coast University. The story is about a dog named, “Hachi” who is from Japan. He ends up getting lost in the East Coast, USA. And Richard Gere’s character, “Parker” finds him and takes care of him. It seems like any old, man loves dog story but there is an important twist. Hachi loves Parker so much that he goes to great lengths to wait for him as he returns from the train station. Hachi waits at the station every day for over a year and Parker and Hachi have a great life together. But when Parker unexpectedly dies while teaching a music class, he never comes home through the train station. But Hachi faithfully waits for Parker every day for 10 years. His love for Parker never waivers and he waits for him for the rest of his life. Hachi becomes so well known to the community that they even write about him in the newspaper. The local merchants take care of him as best as they can, but Hachi lives alone somewhere in the city. Even though Hachi gets to be very old, he still waits for Parker at the train station.
This movie is actually based on a true story. Hachi was a dog in Japan with a similar situation. And the people of the town loved Hachi so much that they created a bronze statue of him in his honor.
The reason why I say that Hachi will steal your heart is because I watched this movie and I cried. It isn’t about the dog being adorable and it isn’t about the great music. It is about the sheer tremendous amount of love and devotion that is presented in the film. Richard Gere is very convincing in his love for the dog and the dog actor that plays Hachi is unforgettable. It is heart wrenching to see Hachi when he is older. That really twisted my emotions and made me cry a lot. If you love animals at all you need to see this movie. And especially if you have ever owned a dog then this is a must-see.
It was never released in the USA in the theaters but it was released in the theaters in Japan. Almost all the reviews I’ve read for Hachi: A Dog’s Tale are extremely positive or else maximum highest rating. I’ve read at least 20 reviews of people saying they cried watching this movie. This includes men and women.
A great thing about this movie is that it is only about 95 minutes long. So they present the subject matter of the movie extremely efficiently and artistically without turning it into a long epic.
Click here to purchase “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” from Amazon.com.
-Tyler