Experiential cinema in its purest form, GUNDA chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy. Using stark, transcendent black and white cinematography and the farm's ambient soundtrack, Master director Victor Kossakowsky invites the audience to slow down and experience life as his subjects do, taking in their world with a magical patience and an other worldly perspective. GUNDA asks us to meditate on the mystery of animal consciousness, and reckon with the role humanity plays in it. Executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix.
- Released: 2021-04-15
- Runtime: 93 minutes
- Genre: Documentaries
- Stars:
- Director: Viktor Kossakovsky
Comments
- piibukiri - 4 January 2023
Absolute must see
If you are at all open to experience that deviates from the blockbuster-television genres, Gunda is a must see. Ditto, if you care about animal life and welfare. The film is beautifully shot in a way that makes it hard to look away from even the slowest of slow scenes. It is funny, we laughed out loud throughout, despite there being no jokes or intents at humor by those on the screen. But be prepared to feel devastated, too. The depth of experience hidden in the simplicity of animal life is astounding and the director Viktor Kossakovsky, together with his team of Norwegian producers, have done us a great service in putting it to film. - Horst_In_Translation - 2 September 2021
Beauty is perishable
"Gunda" is a relatively new film, even if it premiered already back in 2020 actually in my city here in Berlin, but took until August/September 2021 now for a wide release, but I am glad it got it because it is not really a creative movie, but also an important one. Let's start with the basics: This is a co-production between Norway, the United Kingdom and United States and I feel that this will be seen by more people here in Europe than over there in America. It is really a mix of many countries because the director is Viktor Kosakovskiy, who was born in the Soviet Union back in the day and just turned 60 actually. A really experienced filmmaker who started working in the industry back in the early 1990s already and maybe with this movie he gave himself the biggest present as this could very well become his most known work. Despite the simplicity that surrounds it, but I will get to that later on. His co-writer and also editor here is Ainara Vera, more multicultural aspects, and it is not the first time the two have worked together on a film. If you have no heard from these two so far, don't worry. One you surely have heard of is executiive producer Joaquin Phoenix and his name also makes it a bit obvious which direction this film is heading. I also found it interesting that Danny Glover was mentioned in the credits and received a special thanks inclusion. This one runs for slightly over 1.5 hours and it is in black-and-white from beginning to end. I like this creative choice, but I am not unbiased because I am generally a bit of a sucker for black-and-white projects. It made sense though. We don't need to see the beautiful color of the chickens for example to appreciate the greatness of nature. There are more than enough other reasons to do so. They really kept it basic and essential overall. There is also no narration, which is really not a given for documentary movies. But hearing the noises from these animals is even more at the center of it all this way, most of all the happy squealing, but also other noises I will talk about a little later. You don't need to find out how long it takes for piglets until they stop drinking their mother's milk. It's not really a film to learn something. It's about appreciating the beauty of nature. And mourning its loss eventually.
Gunda is of course the pig at the center of the story, mother to (if I counted correctly) a massive amount of ten piglets in total. The film starts basically when they are born and really small and we see how they come one-by-one out of the barn (this is shown once again later on, with their mother coming out first that time and they follow her), which is not just super cute, but also brings a certain amount of pleasant anticipation to the viewers as we know there will be more coming out every second. Unfortunately, this is in the end also one of the most depressing things about this movie. In the end, Gunda vanishes back into the barn, into the black, all on her own again, and the exact place where this film started so pleasantly and joyfully is now pretty much only connected to loss. This was a really creative framework that emphasizes the film's message in a way that could not have been done any better. Before I go on with Gunda and her kids, a few words on the other animals: We have of course the chickens here. Imperfection that does not take away from beauty is also a key aspect here. The one we see most of the time has only one leg, but it can still walk, just looks a bit clumsy, and is nonetheless and amazing creation of nature. And then the cows. There I have a little more to say because those were part of two of my favorite moments from this film. The first would be when we see all those cows run out towards the meadow which is so nice to see and a statement as powerful as it can be to support the idea that cows do not belong in tiny stables where they can barely move. They enjoy the sun outside this much, enjoy the fresh air and all the space and room they have. It was a joy to see them running like that. The other scene would be when we see how smart the cows really are. They are constantly annoyed by flies, especially next to their heads, so two cows stand next to each other in a way and position where they can at least to some extent chase away the flies from the other cow's head with the help of their tails. What a really, really smart cooperation that was. I wonder if many other people paid attention to this moment.
Now back to Gunda and her kids. I mean I always thought piglets were really cute, so no surprise for me here from this perspective. It is impossible though to not care for those piglets in all these situations and it's really heartwarming to see that they all survived apparently (initially) and grew bigger than. I felt a bit sorry for Gunda though in the later stages that they were still going for her tits with how "heavy" they already were at this point. The "(initially)" referes to the ending and reminds us that destruction by humans (we don#t see people in here, but their vehicle stands metaphorically for destruction) is inevitable when it comes no nature and beauty associated with nature. The piglets are driven away and Gunda is there all on her own and maybe some think this sequence was to long, this very final sequence, but I think it had to be this long because it really showed us how animals can be in pain, how they suffer, not physically, but mentally if you want to call it like that. Imagine a mother who has ten kids and they are all taken away to be killed. To be eaten. What a horror scenario. Well, that is what happens here and it is heartbreaking to see Gunda suffer from her loss with how she has no idea what is going on after all the love and dedication and taps and milk she gave them. Everybody in the audience can feel her pain and I was tempted to say "even if she is only an animal", but the better wording would be "because she is an animal". This is also where it feels fitting that Phoenix, with his environmental background, is a part of this film. Maybe you have heard of his movie "Earthlings", a completely different approach to livestock farming, but the message is actually somehow the same in the very end. I thought that here it was especially heartbreaking when we saw Gunda look right into the camera. And her sounds as well. The ending was really sobering anyway because it takes us ruthlessly back to reality where sadly those piglets cannot stay with their mom for the rest of their lives. Or her life. But I still have a bit of hope that it was just reenacted somehow because this seemed to be a place where they cared about the animals and treated them nicely, but not sure if this nicely for a porky family reunion.
In any case, it is these beautiful images that are a key reason to watch this film. The innocence coming with them in a world that does not require humans whatsoever, but also the drastic and inevitable loss of said innocence. This is pretty much all then. I don't really want to tell you what to take from this movie or similar movies. It's up to everybody on their own if they want to become a vegetarian (which is what I am), a vegan, or stay a carnivore and maybe just think a little more about what they buy and from whom. If everybody thinks a bit more about their nutrition (and consequently not only about the animals, but about one's own health), it is an important step forward. I am sure this film contributed a lot to that and as of now, this is my favorite film from 2020, even if there is still really a lot to see. But I am still optimistic that it will stay in my top5, probably even top3, maybe even number one. The images were just beautiful and the message could not have been any more memorable despite the simplicity surrounding this project. Some real talent involved here. Big thumbs-up to everybody who was involved with this project and I truly hope it will be seen a lot in the future, no matter if at the movie theater or at home when it airs on television. It surely will, unless shady lobbyists get in the way. Anyway, what I actually want to say is that you should not miss out here. Highly recommended.
