The Cow(John)

This is probably the weirdest movie I've ever seen. Although, it wasn't really hard to become that. An Iranian movie made in 1968 in Black & White about a guy who goes insane over losing his cow...yeah.

Let's start with the acting. Really nothing to write home about. I think the best character in the movie had to be Hassan, the main character. He did a good job and he really sold the insanity. The other supporting cast was just ok. None of them stood out to me...except for the guy who never left his home and was always saying "Ephram, is something wrong?". The comic relief, I guess.

Ok, story-wise is where this review gets tricky. As I said before, this movie centers around the loss of a cow. Now, as Americans living in the year 2010, it's going to be hard to relate to the film. What I did was imagine that the cow was Hassan's son. This way, I was able to at least understand a little more the events that took place. And, really, the story wasn't that bad. I kept thinking of it as an episode of The Twilight Zone or Outer Limits that took place in Iran. Kind of odd, yes, but that's what I was thinking. The story follows the typical Aristotelian flow: beginning, middle and end. In the beginning, we gain sympathy for Hassan and his cow, in the middle we learn that the cow has died and see the townspeople attempt to hide this from Hassan, and in the end we see the breakdown of Hassan.

The technical aspects of the movie was the shining star of the film. For a third world movie made in 1968, I think this movie performed above and beyond in this category. There were a lot of creepy shots in the movie and it really provided the needed suspense. If the movie wasn't shot as good as it was, I really think this could've been a boring movie. The black & white also aided in the film. The shots at night looked really really dark and we were only provided with vision when it was needed.

Overall, I guess I would say that I liked the movie but I could not recommend it to others and will more than likely never watch it again. I thought the acting was sub-par, the story was okay and the camera work was really good. I was not bored and it definitely exceeded my expectations. This is a movie you can watch that a majority of American audiences have never seen and will never see.

I'm giving it a 6.5 out of 10.

- John Murphy