The Black Dog's Progress

This is a heartrending animated feature, using flickbooks to illustrate cruelty to animals. It starts off with a single flickbook, and expands in every direction to become a disturbing torrent of abuse in an urban nightmare. Starting off as an unwanted pet, the black dog of the title is indiscriminately disposed of and left to fend for himself, and each of the following books has a nasty turn for him.

The music from Danish composer Sorenious Bonk is clear and effective. String instruments are scraped to illustrate the torture and the remaining music is achingly sad. Each of the flickbooks are re-flicked after a short interval; the abuse is perpetual and the cycle is unbreakable.

Whoo - I'm depressed. Need to give my dog a cuddle.