Togo

r96sk

November 19, 2020

10/10

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 su…

CinemaSerf

March 29, 2026

6/10

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 …

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 acros…