THE DOG (Allison Berg, Frank Keraudren). 100 minutes. Opens Friday (August 15) at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
This fascinating doc looks at the life of John Wojtowicz, whose 1972 attempted robbery of a Brooklyn bank to pay for his male lover’s sex-change operation inspired the Al Pacino film Dog Day Afternoon.
But that was only part of the story, it turns out. Intensely active sexually – with both men and women – Wojtowicz was one of the pioneers of New York City’s gay liberation movement and did early work around the same-sex marriage issue. After Dog Day Afternoon came out, he became a minor celebrity, a status he exploited after being released from prison. Most of the gay establishment shunned him and his renegade act.
Directors Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren spent a decade on the film and often have difficulty organizing the material. But they’re helped by Wojtowicz himself, whose outrageous personality is caught in a series of interviews given over a span of years.
Also on hand are Wojtowicz’s strong mother and, in two powerful scenes, his special-needs brother. Wisely, the filmmakers withhold key later footage of their subject (he died in 2006) until the end for maximum emotional effect.
