The Cow (1969)

Harbinger Of The Greatness To Come. - The Cow review by NC

'A landmark of world cinema', the Iranian actor and comedian Omid Djalili says, and he is right. Seen by many as the first great Iranian film, it certainly contains the ingredients of all the colossal masterpieces which were to follow right up to the present day. Astonishing camerawork, the long take, the perfect pace of each shot, an eye for what will make a breathtaking image. Most important of all, the one thing that elevates iranian cinema above the rest of the world: the humane element. Ordinary people trying to work out a problem that becomes extraordinary to them precisely because they are ordinary. It's a simple device, but Iranian directors have made it work so many times, and somehow they do it far, far better than film-makers from other nations.

'The Cow' is not quite on the same stratospheric level as, say, the films of the Makhmalbafs or Jafar Panahi. It doesn't have their concision. Very rarely, when watching an Iranian film, does it seem slow, but I couldn't help thinking it would be a better film at 15 minutes shorter. And it doesn't have their simplicity - the other essential component which makes Iranian cinema unique. I feel there is some deeper meaning behind the story of a man so in love with his cow that when he loses it, he becomes the animal. Rather the cow lives than he himself. I couldn't, and still can't, work out what that deeper meaning might be.

Nevertheless, this is, for by far the most part, a superb work of art. 'A landmark in world cinema'.