This 'one film a week' project initially stuck to exclusively American films but eventually, I’ve expanded out to international classics. When assembling this year’s screening list, I realized that I’ve never seen an Iranian film before. Being half-Persian and fan of film, this was a huge miss on my part. Iranian cinema has had a unique history and Iranian films occasionally garner great interest in art films circles. And so, after I couldn’t find copies of my first two choices (LOL), I settled on one of the most famous Iranian films: “The Cow” (of which a stunningly restored version was freely available on YouTube).
“The Cow” takes place in a poor, Iranian village where we meet Masht Hassan and his pregnant cow. Owning a cow is a source of social and economic stature, so Hassan shows great affection and care for the creature (more than he does the people around him, to be honest). Fearful that members of the neighboring town Bolour will steal or kill his cow, as they are allegedly known to do, Hassan locks the animal in the cowshed and heads to work. Sadly, the cow dies (unexplainably). The other villagers, fearful of how Hassan will react, try to cover up the death and explain that the cow has run off. Hassan doesn’t buy this explanation and shuns his family and friends. He has a mental breakdown, eventually believing that he *is* the cow. He eats hay and grunts, much to the worry of those around him. Villagers try to take Hassan to the hospital for treatment but tragedy strikes.
Though commissioned by the Shah, “The Cow” was soon banned/restricted for showing the world an impoverished Iran. Somewhere between Italian neorealism and famous the Persian poetry of old, the film is known for helping kick off an Iranian New Wave cinema. Apparently a hallmark of both pre and post revolutionary Iranian films, “The Cow” is a simple story steeped in murky symbolism—a technique to subvert censors in both regimes. What you get is a simple, challenging film with enough plot progression to fill a 7 minute short film and enough interpretations to fill a book. What stood out to me was how tragically bad everyone’s decision making was. Led by an indecisive chief, who takes direction from the ineffective Islam* [a man with, IMO, not so bright ideas], the village is superstitious, fearful of foreigners, and on the brink of ruin. “The Cow” tells the story of a society that doesn’t function properly and what happens when a self-sufficient man loses his economic and social keep in that environment. It’s a stark, confusing, and bitter tale that I didn’t really love, but was an interesting first step into Iranian cinema.