Hachiko: A Dog Story – A true tale (and a true tearjerker)

Director: Lasse Hallstrom

Writer: Stephen Lindsey

Stars: Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Jason Alexander, Sarah Roemer

Rating: 4 stars

If you’re a dog lover, then Hachiko: A Dog Story is probably the best movie you should watch over the weekend. This film chronicles the life of Hachiko – from a cute pup to a very active and loyal canine. He’s shipped from Japan to someone in America but gets inadvertently lost in a crowded train station. That is where a college music professor Parker Wilson (played by Richard Gere) finds the pup.

The professor takes an instant liking to him and since no one’s willing to take care of the cute dog, least of all the station’s manager (Jason Alexander), he takes it home with him. The professor’s daughter (Sarah Roemer) is also immediately taken with the cuddly canine but the bad news is his wife (Joan Allen) does not want a pet in the house. So the professor is forced to get rid of the dog by offering it to friends and even distributing lost and found posters. But days go by and no one’s getting the dog out of his hands. Soon Hachiko (fondly called Hachi) grows more attached to the professor and vice versa and the wife, seeing the growing bond between the master and the dog, finally accepts the boisterous presence of Hachiko into their home.

As time passes by Hachiko becomes a constant companion to the professor. The dog does everything to be with the professor – either jumping over fences or digging under them to follow his master to the station where he regularly commutes. The professor eventually gives up in restraining the dog, until the two of them walking to and from train station becomes a familiar but always an interesting sight to passengers and locals. It becomes a routine: Hachiko walking the professor to the station, going home and then returning to the station to wait for the professor’s arrival at 5pm.

But then the professor suffers a fatal stoke and the professor’s daughter decides to take the dog to live with her and her husband. But Hachiko has other ideas. Unable to comprehend the situation, or perhaps unwilling to accept the fact that his master is gone, he escapes and lives along the railway. Every morning he walks to the station and goes there every afternoon at exactly 5pm to wait for the professor’s arrival. Hachiko sits and waits, facing the station’s doors, hoping to catch a glimpse of his master. He’s there as seasons change, patient and ever loyal as autumn leaves and snow fall around him.

I would not recommend this film for your children to watch without your guidance. It’s not some other dog stories, like Bolt or Beethoven, which would greatly entertain little tots. Hachiko: A Dog Story delves on “mature” topics, particularly death and loneliness, and this film will definitely saturate your tear ducts (my brother who considers himself a toughie admitted that he’s been a cry baby when he saw Hachiko). But very much suitable to children is the main message of this film – love, loyalty, and kinship.

This film was inspired by a true story originating from Japan in 1924 at the Shibuya train station. A bronze statue of Hachiko now stands at the station to recognize this dog’s unfailing loyalty to his master.

Hachiko: A Dog Story was released in US theaters in 2009. It was directed by Lasse Hallstrom, the helm behind critically-acclaimed films My Life As A Dog and The Cider House Rules.