It’s a dog’s life in ‘Stray’ – and a poignant one

“Stray”

Not Rated. In Turkish with subtitles. At the Coolidge Corner.

Grade: B plus

Elizabeth Lo’s “Stray” begins with a quote from Diogenes of Sinope circa 360 B.C.: “Human beings live artificially and hypocritically and would do well to study the dog.” Well, that’s what the film is about to do. Starting with a shot of four-legs wandering the stone streets of Istanbul, the film introduces us to one of its dog protagonists, a short-haired, floppy-eared, tan-colored female named Zeytin, a contemplative wanderer, who is unafraid to cross a busy highway and content to nap at the beach. Turkish authorities, we are told, have tried to kill strays since 1909, resulting in mass exterminations. But today, it is illegal to euthanize strays. Zeytin drinks from a fountain, chases a cat, plays with another stray of a similar mixed breed. We see another dog sporting some kind of tag attached to its ear.

A companion piece to Ceyda Torun’s delightful 2017 documentary “Kedi” about the cats of Istanbul, “Stray” is an austere, observational study shot between 2017 and 2019 of three dogs, including Nazar and the black and white puppy Kartal, and the wretched, glue-sniffing Syrian boys from Aleppo, who adopt them. The boys are strays, too, and, as one adult comments, take better care of the dogs than they do of themselves. At one point, an off-camera stranger speaks comfortingly to one of the boys, assuring him he can return to his home and resume his education. Together, the boys and dogs sleep in an abandoned construction site, near the waterfront, where yachts are anchored in a neat row on the bobbing Bosphorus. The rest of the time kids and animals wander the mean streets, crossing a bridge, begging and trying to avoid the police. For the most part, Lo’s camera remains at dog level, giving us a closer-to-the-ground perspective. Bystanders ogle Lo and her lens (she was also the film’s cinematographer and editor). Kind trash collectors save bones for the strays on their route. Somehow, Zeytin gets mixed up in a crowd of marching women along with a male dog that tries to get embarrassingly frisky with her.

Dogs and philosophers are equally underappreciated, Diogenes also remarked. Istanbul is on the boundary of Asia and Europe. War-torn Syria shares a border with Turkey on the south. The boys are arrested, and Kartal is taken by the police. We see packs of dogs outside the city, where they are presumably released by the police. In a final shot, a solitary Zeytin responds to the muezzin’s call to prayer by howling in harmony. If that doesn’t pluck at your heartstrings, you’re probably a cat.

(“Stray” contains drug use and children suffering from extreme poverty)

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