The Cow (film)
- Ezzatolah Entezami: intermeshed Hassan
- Firuz Behjat - Mohamadi:
- Mahmoud Dowlatabadi:
- Parviz Fannizadeh:
- Jamshid Mashayekhi: Abbas
- Ali Nassirian: Islam
- Ezatallah Ramezanifar:
- Esmat Safavi:
The Cow (Persian گاو, Gāv ) is an Iranian film directed by Dariush Mehrjui from the year 1969. Considered as one of the landmarks of the new film in Iran.
Action
The film shows the intimate relationship of the villager Hassan to his cow. She is his prized possession and also the only cow in the village.
When Hassan even have to leave the village for a short time, the pregnant cow is found dead in the barn. Fearing Hassan's reaction, the villagers conceal the incident on his return and tell him the cow had escaped.
The loss of his beloved cow, which was also the epitome of his social status within the village at the same time, leads to a nervous breakdown at Hassan. Gradually he loses his mind and finally believes himself to be the cow and begins to eat hay. The attempt by the villagers to bring Hassan back to normality fails and ends with his death.
Style
The film is an " existentialist, neorealistisch staged fable about the relationship individual - group ".
Publication
The film was one of the first state-sponsored film projects, but was then banned because of its depiction of the poor relations in the countryside. 1971, the film was smuggled out of Iran and shown at the International Film Festival in Venice. There he became the movie event of the year and won the Critics' Prize. Other presentations at film festivals followed.
On June 18, 1973, the production was first broadcast in the German Television ( ZDF).
Reception
The film brought Dariush Mehrjui national and international recognition. He was elected to become a cult film and was in some surveys the best Iranian film.
Reviews
The lexicon of international film wrote that the film was a careful staging that will be captured in " clear, lyrical, realistic black and white images " which means it offers an " impressive witness economic, cultural and religious conditions of life in an underdeveloped country. " German dubbing voices were, however, rated as " disturbing " and " inappropriate ".