Richard658

A fine film whose story line is so strong, the challenge is to have the production live up to it. Director Hallestrom, with the collaboration of the cast and the production crew (including the dog trainers), threads the needle to capture the essence, a depth of friendship more sublimely defined by the absence of of one of its members, allowing the other (Hachi) to quietly (but publicly) reveal his willingness to wait forever for his friend's return. The pain and anguish a human would suffer in his place is barely imaginable. If there is a human among us capable of remaining so deeply devoted to such an unshakable faith in the unbroken continuity of the other's bond, though never validated (and never needing to be) day after day after day, for years, interrupted in the only way it could be, by our death a lifetime later, it would have to be a person capable of a love divine . How else to show the fundamental power of such a pure, unadulterated love, than to have it persist in the patient heart of a creature who knew no other kind?