Cow is one of those films where it’s sort of hard to describe, the plot summary is exactly what it is the daily life of a dairy cow, the first scene even starting with the birth of the cow the film follows which is named Luma. Throughout the film we follow Luma and director Andrea Arnold who’s on a mission to humanize Luma and get the audience to feel for the other cows as well. Arnold succeeds in ways that feel much more organic than what other movies would, she uses camera angels, a ton of moments with no dialogue and it’s just the cows. If you know anything that eventually happens to cows that is hinted at and shown in the film and the empty atmosphere makes it all the more horrifying to watch. Milk being forcibly out by machinery is shown, tattooing and drilling through the skin are shown. Arnold show’s how cows are treated from birth all the way till the end, by the near end cows like Luma are emotionally drained it’s absolutely heartbreaking to watch. Arnold doesn’t really give a answer to the film of “what can be done?” However the film does end with a hopeful light despite the scenery being very haunting. Overall Cow is a very strong film that definitely get’s the message across, it’s definitely a disturbing but very meaningful film that will stick with you.
Cow is available on all VOD Platforms.
8/10 B+
Jerome Reviews... 