It’s been quite a year for Latvian animation. The enormous success of Flow [+lee también:
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The 17th century. A Swedish Livonian village. Amidst torrential rain and dark skies, the peasants drink themselves into a stupor alongside the aristocrats who indulge in pleasures of the flesh. All the while, the religious caste – with hypocritical piety – entreat them to temper their sins. When an ancient relic disappears, a woman is accused of witchcraft, prompting a self-proclaimed Werewolf – also known as a Dog of God – to arrive with a most unique gift: “The Devil’s Balls”. Soon, the community is upended, madness begins to descend as hedonism takes hold, and the village spirals into a morass of sex and violence as desire is given free rein and morality is quickly forgotten.

From the opening, in which a set of testicles are violently removed from their owner, which then segues into a cow blithely defaecating in a field, it’s clear that Dog of God is going to be an assault on the senses. Utilising rotoscoping (lending the film echoes of Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings), the movie vacillates between grubby realism and a kaleidoscopic explosion of set pieces full of sex and violence or hallucinogenic dreams. The rotoscope technique gives a tactile edge to this animated story full of filth and depravity, which is ostensibly based on the real-life account of one of the last werewolf trials held in 1692.

But this is not a total descent into the abyss. Wearing other influences on its sleeve – such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Heavy Metal (the legendary comic magazine and occasional film) – the feature also has a sense of satire, of tongue in cheek (and, in the case of one cat in the film, a tongue somewhere else entirely) and of bawdy celebration. Because while Dog of God laments the hypocrisy at the heart of much of society (and, for all its historic fantasy, there are many things that still feel relevant today), it also celebrates the enduring power of folklore and how humans can resist – and even thrive – when faced with oppression.

While it falters occasionally – the pacing is slightly uneven, with a slow first half that very, very quickly ramps up the insanity – this is a Grand Guignol affair that is, at times, thrillingly bold and unapologetic. Given that the term “Latvian animation” is currently a recommendation in and of itself, it should do very well on the festival circuit, especially at both animation- and genre-focused gatherings, although its adult nature might make international theatrical releases a slightly tougher prospect.

Dog of God is a co-production between Lativa and the USA. It was staged by Riga-based Tritone and LA-based Lumiere Lab. Its international sales are handled by Berlin’s Media Move.