The Cow

Or, 'I'm leading my cow down the hill to market again.' This spartan fable (from a story by Jan Prochazka) sees a simple Adam weather life's chequered offerings from his isolated hilltop cabin. His mother dies (just when he's sold the cow for medicine); he overcomes tormenting memories of her cavortings and shacks up with the butcher's daughter; they work hard, mostly, and save for another cow. Despite period clumsiness, the disingenuous mood is eventually established. Complexity of thought or feeling isn't on the agenda, but the film has some coherence simply as an illustration of pastoral austerity and perpetual struggle.