Andreas, a man struggling with the recent demise of his marriage and his own emotional isolation, befriends a married couple also in the midst of psychological turmoil. In turn he meets Anna, who is grieving the recent deaths of her husband and son. She appears zealous in her faith and steadfast in her search for truth, but gradually her delusions surface. Andreas and Anna pursue a love affair, but he is unable to overcome his feelings of deep humiliation and remains disconnected. Meanwhile, the island community is victimized by an unknown person committing acts of animal cruelty.
We are shown a dog that has been hung by a tree, but is alive and struggling. It's quickly freed from the noose but it felt like ages watching it thrash and whine.
Besides the deceased animal remains, we also see one attempted killing of an animal and one mercy killing.
Somewhere around the fifteen minute mark, we're shown a dog that has been hung by a tree, but is alive and struggling. It's quickly freed from the noose but it felt like ages watching it in pain.
And at around the 1 hour 7 minute mark, a non-moving bird is mercy-killed swiftly and bloodlessly using a rock. This scene was not disturbing to me personally, as it spent no time lingering and the animal didn't look alive (but it did look real).