Too bad the title Dog World is more or less taken (it's the literal translation of the classic shockumentary Mondo Cane), as the moniker would fit this well-traveled, non-schmaltzy animal feature from filmmaking couple Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker. Worldwide interactions of dogs and people are the subject, in cinema-verite interludes roving from South America to Asia.
In Chile, regulars look after the welfare of Quiltro, a stray who seems more or less a community pet. In Uganda, survivors of the vicious Sudanese civil war receive and treasure dogs as therapy animals. In Peru and Pakistan, people who might be considered social outcasts due to gender or lifestyle choice (a "tomboy" woman coaching cricket in conservative Muslim Karachi) receive unconditional love and support from their canine companions.
Jarring indeed in this context is a visit to a Vietnamese couple who slaughter and cook dogs for food (we see the doomed hound waiting heartbreakingly in a wire cage but are spared the rendering process in closeup), while claiming it is different than the affection they have for their own ungainly, adopted bulldog mix —who probably would not taste good to their customer base anyhow, we are made to understand. Immediately afterward, the film goes to Nepal for the other extreme, a local Hindu celebration that venerates all dogs; even homeless ones are arrayed with garlands and adoration.
A stopover in Turkey with a young dog-walker cements a genre relationship to Kedi, the art-house hit about the stray cats of Istanbul. This feature is much talkier than Kedi—so be prepared for a pack of polyglot subtitles—but collections that scored good results from that animal-centric feature should also get a leash around this one. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P.