Togo

Stunning, truly stunning. As I pressed play on <em>'Togo'</em> and began watching the initial scenes unfold, I was expecting a rehash/retread on Disney's previous films on this sort - e.g. <em>'White Fang'</em> or <em>'Iron Will'</em>. Those are good in their own right, but this 2019 film - which is about a true story - takes things to another dimension. It tugs at the heartstrings profusely, from the first scene to the very last. It's superbly written, with there being a fair amount of surprises in terms of how the story unfolds. It's shot beautifully and put together, via the set design…

If you can imagine a medicinal equivalent of the pony express, then you’ll have an idea of the thrust behind the story of “Togo”. Initially a young hound that his owner Leonhard Seppala (Willem Dafoe) might have readily cooked, his annoying persistence and determination saw him prove his worth before becoming the lead dog on the sleigh run that ensured vital serum reached the northernmost parts of the country with a run of some two hundred-odd miles, often through some atrocious conditions that reached -50° and saw winds in excess of sixty miles per hour. Hands up, I’m not really a dog lover…

The dog who did the hardest part never got the statue. In 1925, a diphtheria outbreak threatened the children of Nome, Alaska. The only way to get serum there in winter was by dog sled, across roughly 700 miles of frozen terrain. What history remembered was Balto, the lead dog of the final relay team, the one who trotted into Nome to fanfare. What history forgot was Togo, a Siberian Husky who covered over 260 miles with his musher Leonhard Seppala, including the most treacherous stretch across Norton Sound in a blizzard. Togo's portion was longer and more dangerous than any other team in the…