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Posted in: Movies, Review | Tagged: 25 Cats from Qatar, animal rescue, blu-ray, documentary, Mye Hoang, Whole Grain Pictures
25 Cats from Qatar is an Epic Documentary about Cat Rescue
25 Cats from Qatar is a life-affirming, feel-good documentary about the gulf between society's indifference and individual kindness.
Article Summary
- 25 Cats from Qatar follows an American woman’s epic mission to rescue abandoned street cats in Doha.
- The documentary explores the emotional and logistical challenges of bringing 25 cats to the US for adoption.
- Reveals the compassion of individuals versus government indifference to vulnerable animals in Qatar.
- Director Mye Hoang crafts a feel-good, thought-provoking look at rescue, empathy, and societal values.
You might not expect a documentary like 25 Cats from Qatar, the most epic story about cat rescue you're ever going to see. It's the story about an American woman who sets out to rescue as many abandoned cats from the city as possible, and becomes a kind of heist and hostage rescue operation, with the hostages being cats.
Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world, but the streets are full of millions of street cats, often starving and in poor health. Many foreign workers adopt cats there, but they don't bring them home when their contracts are up, and they end up abandoning them. When Katy McHugh, the owner of a Milwaukee cat cafe, hears about this crisis, she comes up with a plan to fly 25 of them back to America in the hope that they can be adopted.
However, with cats in a fragile state, and the U.S. and Qatari governments unable or unwilling to help, it has become a private operation to get these cats to America. Katy meets an international network of rescuers, including Lana Malkawi, who runs a shelter for over 300 special-needs cats in Qatar's capital, Doha. Katy combs through the city, stopping at construction zones, crowded animal shelters, and bustling markets, meeting with local rescuers to pick up as many cats as possible, then realises she can't bring them all back to the US. She must make heartbreaking decisions about which cats to bring back and deal with their health issues, temperaments, and breeds while navigating a maze of red tape. It's as fraught as any mission movie.
25 Cats from Qatar isn't just for cat lovers, though that helps. You'd have to be hard-hearted not to feel for the furry critters and their plight, and yes, the documentary is sentimental. It wears its heart on its sleeve, but it's not just about rescuing cats; it's a measure of a society in how it treats its most vulnerable inhabitants, in this case, cats. The big takeaway is the indifference of governments and systems to the plight of the most vulnerable – it's cats here, but it might as well be the poorest people as well.
Director Mye Hoang doesn't need to hammer any points home here. All she needed to do was point the camera, let Katy and her fellow rescuers do the walking and talking, and show again the gulf between individuals and their compassion and the coldness of Capitalist society. The cats might as well be us, and so are Katy and her fellow rescuers. Take it how you will. This is a unique feel-good documentary that's deeper than you think.
25 Cats from Qatar is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD.
25 Cats from Qatar
9/10
A sentimental feel-good documentary that's the most epic cat rescue operation you've ever seen, but it's not just about cats, it's about the gulf between the cold indifference of society towards its most vulnerable and the compassion of individuals who buck that indifference. You don't have to be a cat lover to appreciate this documentary, since the cats might as well be us.
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