COWS (VACAS) Latino Cinema

In this surreal Spanish melodrama, director Julio Medem contrasts beautifully photographed images of the lush Basque countryside with haunting visions of violence and madness. The film opens during a war as two friends fight together: ultimately one is kill.ed and the other escapes by pretending to be dead. Cows follows sever.al generations of the two soldiers’ feuding families. showing the ramifications of this event over time. Gusi’s strikingly innovative camera assumes the vacuous perspective of the cows who roam throughout the film, observing human passions and fears with disinterest. -Deborah Mccrae