Review: The Truffle Hunters

The Truffle Hunters is a documentary film about a bunch of old dudes in Italy who work with dogs to find truffles¹ buried in the ground, deep inside forests. As a dog lover, I envy the working relationship that these people have with their dogs. My dog is great, but she’s never going to help me write any Javascript.

The film is visually gorgeous, made up mostly of static shots that are perfectly composed, lit and colour-graded. One shot that springs to mind is of a married couple sitting behind a stack of tomatoes, washing them one by one. Every unblemished tomato is a deep, rich shade of red.

While it looks great, the impeccable style makes me question the authenticity of some of the more emotional scenes. I couldn’t help but imagine the filmmakers meticulously setting up the camera and the subjects, and waiting for the perfect sun, and then saying “action” to what is supposed to be a genuine outpouring of emotion. For example, there’s one scene involving a distraught and crying truffle hunter, telling a police officer that one of his dogs has been poisoned by ruthless corporate truffle hunters trying to encroach on his territory. I felt bad for him, but still, I had to ask myself, Is he acting here?

Which brings us to the dark side of the film: because truffles are so rare and valuable, greed and competition have entered into the truffle hunters’ lives. I’ve always had a distaste for “foodie” culture because of the accompanying snobbishness, and this film pushed those buttons for sure. The Truffle Hunters depicts the middlemen and consumers of the truffles as shady characters. They haggle for low prices with the hunters in nighttime back-alley meetings, before turning around and selling to restaurants for a huge profit margin. They berate hunters for leaving a little bit of dirt on the goods. They demand attention from journalists and photographers by holding truffle exhibitions. And worst of all, they are seemingly involved in the intentional harm of innocent animals.

The cost of elevating food to a status symbol is that honest and hard-working people (and their beloved pets) are exploited and hurt.