Cow

Greetings again from the darkness. Farming and ranching are about two main things: commerce and sourcing food and other items (wool, leather, cotton, etc). Director Andrea Arnold won an Oscar for her short film WASP (2003), and also directed a couple of narratives that I've seen, WUTHERING HEIGHTS (2011) and AMERICAN HONEY (2016). Her first feature documentary takes us to a dairy farm in rural England, and closely follows the daily life of the cows on the farm.

We open with the birth of a calf and the instant bonding with its mother, Luma. Then, as we've seen in other documentaries, the two are separated and we clearly see the anxiety this creates in the bovines. But this is a working dairy farm and cows exist for two reasons: to produce milk and to have babies. Ms. Arnold wisely keeps the focus on the cows, and the human workers are rarely seen or heard. It's not a pleasant existence for the cows. They spend time being milked by a metallic contraption or being impregnated by a local bull. Denied connection with their offspring, the cows seem to be allowed very little time to frolic or graze in the fields.

Cinematographer Magda Kowalczyk does get some creative shots, but there are a few times the closeness of the camera to the cows gives us a feeling of temporary motion sickness. We are also bounced between mother and calf quite often, and we 'feel' the mother's bellowing as she longs for her baby. The point is made that cows have feelings, especially as related to their offspring, but some of the attempts to drive that home stretch credulity a bit too far. Also responsible for a slight dulling of the film's impact is that it arrives so closely to last year's artistic masterpiece, GUNDA (2021) from Viktor Kosakovskiy, though director Arnold wins for the most abrupt ending (for us and the cow).

In theaters and On Demand beginning April 8, 2022.

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!

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.

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.

Do you eat dairy? This film is for you.

I will never be the same after this film. I was already a fan of Arnold, but this film wrecked me. There is no gratuitous violence, just the truth. The empathy you feel for these intelligent beings in inescapable. This is a brave film. Watch it if you're brave.