Cow

I'm not actually sure why this didn't get a Oscar nod this year because it was fantastic.

It's completely Cinéma vérité. No dialogue or set up scenes, just showing the life of this cow, Luma.

The shots are amazing. The way the camera will linger on something at just the right moment. It maybe me anthropomorphising her but Jesus Christ I could like feel Luma's pain. It was screaming out the TV at me. The sadness in her eyes and the way she walked especially when you juxtapose it to her baby running around the field. It was just heartbreaking.

She was used like a factory, and then the ending. Wow. That's what she got after giving her life and body for their profit. It was crushing.

I read that the director wanted to the audience to really see the cows and I think she achieved this perfectly. You see that they are alive, they cry for their children just like we would if ours were taken away. They care for their children just like us.

Im so mad it didn't get an Oscar nomination!

Upon watching this documentary I didin't really know what to expect. I saw a glowing score on Rotten Tomatoes and love a good documentary so I rented this film to see what it was about. All I can say is that its unlike any film I've ever seen and is something that will stick with me, forever.

I won't ever view cows in the same way, and I think that is a good thing. The film has almost zero dialogue, and really puts you into the life of a cow and everything they are put through, just to provide us meat and milk. Their lives are seen as pure commoditity, only useful until they can no longer give birth anymore.

The film is simple, elegant, and powerful. Its not an easy watch and is at times very painful to endure, but its very worth it. The films ending was so abrubt that I sat in silence for many minutes after pondering what I had just watched, and how I take for granted the many things that consume in my life because an animal endures torture for me.

If you watch "Cow", know that it won't be an easy film to sit through. It can be repetitive, but that is by design, becuase that's what a cows life is. An endless loop of miserable repitition all on the name of giving us the products that we consume every day. I for one am so glad I watched this film because tis forever given me a thankfullness for an animal that is far too often ignored when it should be put upon a pedestal for all they provide to us.

The documentary "Cow" of Andrea Arnold shows every day's endeavors of a cow on a dairy farm. It brings us closer to the dark truth behind human exploitation of other species, where our desire of drinking milk makes millions of creatures suffer and live in fear.

This straightforward approach of showing us one specific cow and her way from giving a birth to death, allows us to empathize and understand what is hidden and invisible to a consumer of a milk product. It reminds us that we have no right to use other forms of life just to increase our own comfort. It manages to immerse us into a mind of a cow, living in fear and with no understanding of her own fate.

A method of no narration or dialogue is successful in providing us with tools that help us to distinguish emotions from cold thoughts. The documentary has a simple form, yet still, it manages to be rich in its effectiveness. It succeeds in being immersive, thought-provoking, moving and leaves us with questions that we need to answer ourselves.

I believe that the film's memo and the statement that it makes are on the same pathway of delivering similar messages related to discovering the incomprehensible human sense of superiority over everything else.

While the eponymous cow's way of thinking is less complex and abstract than the potential of the human brain, assuming it is therefore inferior due to that is a result of a rather shallow thinking. The document shows us that cows' greatest dreams and desires are not all that different from human ones. As equal to us, cows just want to be happy. Their way of being happy is to be close to others, surrounded by their family, and by grazing grass in beautiful clearings amidst nature and good weather. What prevents them from being happy in this way is a human system based on taking advantage of others and getting rid of them when they are no longer useful. As long as the destructive and harmful system continues, the suffering of the livestock will continue. However, not only theirs, because the system in which we operate ultimately hurts us, humans, as well.

An honest look at how cow farming works in the first world. No commentary, no agenda, as little interference as possible. Each viewer can watch with his own eyes and make up his own opinion about the topic. This documentary portrays a civilized farm, so take in consideration that in most of the farms around the world life for cows is much worse. Also consider that the farm owners/workers might have slightly changed their behavior knowing they were filmed. Having said that, it looked to me quite honest and genuine. I liked the absence of sentimentalism and the close portrait of farm cows. I'm a consumer of milk and cheese, but at the same time I love animals and cows. Is there something we can do that reconciles the two?

Condemned to a life on a prison farm, there's plenty here to raise the alarm, perpetually expecting, poked, prodded and collecting, appreciation paid through point blank firearm.