THE TURIN HORSE World Cinema

Inspired by the account of Friedrich Nietzsche’s mental breakdown at the sight of a horse being whipped , Hungarian master Bela Tarr’s new work – which he claims will be his lost – is on apocalyptic vision. Tarr’s film begins immediately after Nietzsche’s breakdown (in fact, he is never seen) Instead, ii imagines the lives of the horse’s weary masters, on elderly peasant and his grown daughter, who live in a primitive cabin, subsisting on boiled potatoes and palinka brandy. A windstorm rages across their desolate plain, threatening extinction. Tarr charts the peasants’ harsh existence using his roving camera ‘s long takes and Mihaly Vig’s repetitive score to create on enveloping tone poem about human endurance in the face of cosmic malevolence. Though it’s tempting to draw conclusions from a visitor’s pessimistic monologue, the film’s precise meaning remains elusive. A challenging, beautiful and emotionally affecting work, it is a haunting farewell from on iconic filmmaker. – Doug Cummings