Cow
In recent years, there have been quite a few attempts to reconsider farm animals in cinema. None have been as fierce and touching as Andrea Arnold’s portrait of dairy cow Luma. She observes the elderly cow giving birth two last times, who is on each occasion separated from her offspring and must live in the demanding factory that is a modern day farm. Plainly registering the movements of her heroine, the director captures the moral dilemma of capitalist agriculture.
We can regard the film as a simple report on what is necessary to produce the gallons of milk in every supermarket or we can look at it with compassionate eyes, asking if this is the progress everybody is talking about. The close-ups of a restless Luma longing to be with her calf are hard to bear. She is treated like a lactating machine, but we can sense her feelings.
However, Arnold, who incorporates pop music and scenes of bovine peace into her film, does not demonize the human workers. They try their best and are also just part of an industry that doesn’t allow much empathy for the cows. In Luma we can once again discover Robert Bresson’s donkey Balthazar, a huge metaphor, and a horrible reality. (Patrick Holzapfel)
On the 24.10. in the presence of Andrea Arnold.
Andrea Arnold: MILK (1998, K), DOG (2001, K), WASP (2003, K), RED ROAD (2006), FISH TANK (2009), WUTHERING HEIGHTS (2011), AMERICAN HONEY (2016), I LOVE DICK (2017, TV-Series), BIG LITTLE LIES (2019, TV-Series)
- Magda Kowalczyk
- Raphaël Sohier
- Carolina Santana
- Nicolas Becker
- Nikky French
- Rebecca Lloyd
- Jacob Schulsinger
- Nicolas Chaudeurge
mk2