"Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. A legend says that she returned to Earth as a ghost and still roams the streets of Moscow alongside her free-drifting descendants."
As you might expect, although I am emphasising it right here and now, this is NOT a documentary that animal lovers will enjoy. I consider myself an animal lover, although I don't have that hard a time when it's fictional harm/death on display, and Space Dogs had a number of scenes that I found uncomfortable to sit through, to say the least.
Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter have opted to give viewers an important perspective on the history of the space race, and the subsequent treatment of animals in the name of science. Animals have been used as pioneers on numerous occasions, and yet nobody can really fully judge how any of those experiences change them. If a chimpanzee is sent into space, and returns unharmed, then how can humans know what thoughts have gone through its mind? Considering the effect that space travel can have on human beings, it's not impossible to think of animals being seriously affected by their time away from their home planet.
As well as trying to ruminate on this kind of thing (perhaps a particular "do sheep dream of electric androids?" kind of sci-fi/sci-fact approach), the documentary shows some stray dogs wandering around Moscow, acting in accordance with their nature and not being treated as anything special by those they wander by. This emphasises the chasm between the mindset of animals and the mindset of people, for the most part, but also serves to remind us that we often bemoan the lack of care given to those who were taken in, and used up, by military forces. Astronauts are travellers, yes, but also akin to soldiers, acting on behalf of their nation to take huge risks as they outdo other nations, heading to an isolated spot upon which they can plant a flag to claim it in the name of whoever sent them on their dangerous mission. They often come back to a warm welcome, and can be ambassadors for their sector. Animals are a different matter though. If they come back at all.
Space Dogs may be about space travel, it may show footage of stray dogs, it may also take a turn in the final reel to discuss turtles, but it's also about all animals, and what we owe them. It's hard to truly calculate what animals have done for us over the centuries, and how we can ever really repay them. But starting to remember their contributions more, and to help any that have been abandoned, would be a good start. A stray dog saw the vastness of space. It's not right that so many of them experience a similar cold emptiness while here on the planet they share with creatures able to provide them with warmth, shelter, and safety.
7/10
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