Review of Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) by Tor M — 11 Jun 2017
"Everyone who sees this film will be absolutely astonished," Jean-Luc Godard once said, "because this film is really the world in an hour and a half".
We follow a mistreated donkey and the people around him. One of these people is Marie. She is not treated that good either. Not to herself, not by many others. Jacques treats her nice though, but she's not sure she deserves him.
Marie cares a lot for Balthazar, the donkey and protagonist here. He is stolen, he is bought, he is drifting where people tell him to go and when he manage to escape, he will surely be into some new human relationship pretty fast.
Poetic and powerful film, minimalistic and real. There is some animal cruelty here, but rather mild stuff. It surely makes an impression no matter the degree.
The donkey is a symbol of transcendence - the feeling of excistence only, Marie for me is the symbol of the more humane stuff - they are a pair, they match.
Shot in a fantastic manner, images are nearly burned into you mind. Animals have rearly been shot so nicely in a film setting before. Incredibly sad, heartbreaking actually, but at the same time very pretty.
8.5 out of 10 sheeps.
This review of Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) was written by Tor M on 11 Jun 2017.
Au Hasard Balthazar has generally received very positive reviews.
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