The title of this Iranian film made it really obvious what the story would involve, but not necessarily in the way you would expect, I found it listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and I hoped it would be worth it. Basically in a remote and desolate village, middle-aged villager Masht Hassan (Ezzatolah Entezami) has a close relationship with his cow, the only one in the village, Hassan is married, but has no children. When Hassan goes away for a short time, the villagers look after his beloved and pregnant cow, but they find it dead. Knowing how much Hassan cherishes the cow, the villagers fear his reaction when he returns, so they decide to cover up the death and dispose of the corpse. When Hassan returns, they have covered up all evidence of the death, and they lie to him, telling him that the cow ran away. Hassan is unconvinced that his cow would ever run away, he is devastated and finds great difficulty in confronting by his loss, and the loss of livestock affects his social stature in the village. Hassan starts to spend more time in the barn, his grieving pushes him over the edge, and he has a nervous breakdown. Hassan goes insane and has developed boanthropy, a psychological disorder in which he believes himself to be a bovine, in other words, he believes he is the cow. Hassan has incorporated many cow-like mannerisms, including walking on his hands and knees, and eating hay, and the villagers cannot snap him out of it. In the end, his wife (Mahin Shahabi) and the villagers try a drastic method to cure his insanity, tie him up and drag him up a hill, it ends in tragedy when he runs away, and he falls to his death. Also starring Jamshid Mashayekhi as Abbas, Ali Nassirian as Islam, Khosrow Shojazadeh as Boy and Jafar Vali as Kadkhoda. I can see why this is considered an influential film, apparently it was banned as well, it is a very simple story, with themes of poverty, superstition and paranoia, it is both strange and fascinating to watch, a terrific drama. Very good!

Nearing the end of ICM's best of 1969 movie poll,I searched for a final title to view. Seeing a post by fellow IMDber OldAle,I was excited to read praise for an Iran New Wave (INW) title, which led to me going down to the farm.

View on the film:

Farming closer to the Neo- Realist movement than the French New Wave, writer/director Dariush Mehrjui & cinematographer Fereydon Ghovanlou give the village a dour appearance,where the subtle use of black and white shadows lining the streets reflecting what lays at the dark heart of the village. Lovingly following Hassan's feeding of his cow, Mehrju and Ghovanlou take all that Hassan holds dear with flickering camera moves snapping Hassan's breakdown. Dipping into the dark human horror which would be explored the same year in the Czech New Wave film The Cremator, Mehrjui whips Hassan with inhumane treatment from the the locals, captured in frenzied dissolves, fading to the overlooking figures in a landscape.

Born from Gholam-Hossein Saedi's play,the screenplay by Mehrjui features the most prominent edge from the Iran New Wave (INW) via Mehrjui dissection of the greed and pettiness followed by all of the rural locals, with the thought they show towards giving Hassan the bad news,burning into vile outbursts as Hassan's mental state degrades. Becoming completely separated from the villagers, Ezzatolah Entezami gives an incredibly expressive performance as Hassan,whose breakdown is treated with a gradual, earthy realism by Entezami,as Hassan looks in hope of seeing the cow on the field.

This movie is about as far as one can get from Hollywood blockbusters. Its about a cow. About a cow and a very loving owner. And what happens to them ultimately. There's melancholy and madness in the tragic ending. But the movie also scales new heights in the bonding between human and animals, in this case, a cow. The camera has been used is a surreal way. Shadows and people mix creating a spookiness which adds to the oddity of the general environment depicted. There's very palpable tension in the movie, created by the elements related to the cow and the three shadowy thieves who perhaps symbolize lawlessness. What also struck me was the looming silence of the black burkah-clad women and occasion glimpses of their crinkly faces. All very surreal. There are some very interesting personalities which come alive through the script, other than the cow of course!