Let’s not beat around the bush here: I decided to rewatch My Dog Skip during isolation and it was one of the most regretful decision I’ve made this year.
Don’t get me wrong, My Dog Skip is fantastic. The film, released in 2000, revolves around Willie Morris, an American writer who looks back on his 1940’s childhood in Mississippi during World War II. As a kid who was bullied and unable to make friends, Willie gets a dog. This dog, a ripper Jack Russell Terrier named Skip, would bring a whole heap of joy to the 9-year-old’s life. And we begin.
The film also boasts a star-studded line-up, featuring the likes of Dianne Lane, Luke Wilson, Kevin Bacon and a very cute Frankie Muniz.
Let’s briefly walk through some of the initial tear-jerking moments before we discuss the real moment my heart fell out of my chest, shall we? Yay, fun.
Tear-jerker number 1: When the pair first jointed forces.
“He was just a trembling ball of fur,” Willie recounts, cradling Skip on his bed. “Scared and shy as I was.”
“That night lying in bed before sleep, I felt the beat of his heart against my body. And though I didn’t know it then, he was to change my life forever.”
“My dog skip, my best and most steadfast friend.” Jesus Christ. Tissues at the ready.
Tear-jerker number 2: Willie subsequently making a group of friends thanks to Skip being a social butterfuly.
Tear-jerker number 2: During 1940’s racial divide, Skip didn’t give a flying fuck about skin colour. “Dogs are a whole lot smarter than people”, Willie would add.
Tear-jerker number 4: A rogue man injures Skip and he nearly dies on the operating table.
Tear-jerker number 5: Skip comes back to life and gives Willie a good ol’ lick.
These above moments were tear-jerkers, yes, but I thought I’d gotten off relatively scot-free.
Just when I started to feel hopeful that I’d be able to finish the film with my heart and ego intact, the final montage, recounting Willie and Skips’ greatest moments, began. Yep, a final montage. With symphony music. Damn it.
Watching the pair’s happiest moments together was hard enough, knowing that love can be fleeting and their moments together would soon come to an end, but then this following scene happened…
Grown up Willie steps onto a bus to leave town, as he was awarded a scholarship to attend Oxford.
He waves.
Skip watches him board the bus.
The bus leaves.
And so does Skip.
Two friends parting ways, forever.
“I received a trans-Atlantic call one day,” an adult Willie would later recall. “Skip died, daddy said.”
“He and my mama wrapped him in my baseball jacket. They buried him out under our elm tree, they said.”
“That wasn’t totally true, for he really laid buried in my heart.”
Le fin.
ARE YOU FUCKING JOKING? THIS WAS AN ABSOLUTE PUNCH IN THE DICK TO WATCH. I WOULDN’T WISH THIS HEARTBREAK ON MY WORST ENEMY. (Sorry for caps, I just had a flood of emotions.)
When thinking back to my childhood-self watching the movie, that very moment would always send me over the edge – I’d cry for hours – but I thought my reaction would be different as an adult.
Boy, was I wrong. I tried to be brave and hold it together for the first 90 minutes of the film, but the final few minutes just broke me. I cried for a solid 45 minutes after the film’s end. Then stared in the dark abyss of my bedroom for an hour.
My heart had shattered into a million isolated pieces. One piece thought about my puppy who lives a state away and I miss very dearly. Another piece thought about the sadness that can often be involved in growing up, moving on and letting go… and how there’s this bittersweet, longing feeling that often accompanies us when we look back on our childhoods.
All the other 999,998 pieces just lay there dormant, useless and unable to be cleaned up.
Long story short, when in isolation, don’t watch a very sad movie that you know will make you very sad.
It’s ruff.
