Vacas

Aroview: Debut film of dir. Julio Medem follows in vivid, swift fashion the growing connections between two Basque families over the decades between the Second Carlist War (1875) and the Spanish Civil War (1935).

Although a little historical knowledge is a bonus, Medem's intention is not to give a history lesson, instead developing an involving generational drama of resentment, vendetta, and reconciliation, drawn in bold violent strokes and imbued with a strange personal symbolism (involving cows!) As the Taviani Brothers revealed the earthy essence of rural Italy, so Medem taps a primal layer of Basque sensibility, the experience being thoroughly unique.

NZ International Film Festival 1993

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