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
- gbill-74877 - 8 April 2022
Gentle and beautiful
For a subject not often given an artistic treatment, barnyard animals, Gunda is exquisitely shot. In a loving way, it shows that pigs, cows, and chickens have emotions, that they enjoy being alive, and that they have dignity. I loved it for that, and if just looking at animals go about their lives on a farm is appealing to you, this is probably your film, but otherwise, you might find its 93 minutes passing rather slowly.
There is clearly an underlying message here, but I loved how restrained the film was in getting this across. It was filmed at humane farms and sanctuaries, without narration of any kind, and that includes holding back from the customary text at the end of documentaries which fill us in on various facts and details. The viewer is left to connect the dots from the images on the screen to what was on their dinner plate most recently, or the neat cuts of packaged meat in the grocery, seen as commodities instead of living creatures. The scene where the mother pig frantically searches for her babies towards the end is distressing, but a far more damning portrayal of the cruelty of the meat industry would have been at a factory farm, and/or a slaughterhouse. In other words, this is just the tip of an enormous, immoral iceberg - and yet if taking babies away from a mother doesn't hit you in the gut, I'm not sure what will. - maximusynin - 6 July 2021
A rare pearl of human emotions
I was long waiting to see this movie: the black and white charm of the trailer, together with sounds of grunting, squeaking and clucking, familiar to anybody, made a refreshing impression of something different from what is usually shown in the wide release. The movie had no words or moralising, yet, when it ends one can hardly hold the tears. The plot is simple, telling a story of a sow with a litter of piglets and a few hens and cows living at a free-range farm. The camera catches their different emotions, daily joys and tragedies, which one can no longer observe once these animals reach the meat section in a grocery store. In that sense, the movie tells a story of deprived and miserable, farm animals who have no names, no voice and no right to exist in our consciousness. Their emotions are surprisingly human: curiosity of the piglets, tiredness of their mother, the will to life of the one-legged chicken, compassion of calves towards each other in defending from flies, the heartbreaking despair of the sow. The inherent unfairness of their lives vis-à-vis the lives of humans leaves a bitter feeling and a lump in the throat. It is a rare movie, which requires immersion in the dark atmosphere of a cinema, but rewards with empathy towards other beings and a warm feeling of unity with them. - jadepietro - 7 January 2021
Have You Seen the Little Piggies?
IN BRIEF: A well-made but slow moving pig's tale.
JIM'S REVIEW: (RECOMMENDED) A pig and her litter, a one-legged chicken, and some cows are the main cast in this fine documentary, Gunda, Viktor Kosakovskiy's understated cinematic plea for animal rights.
Gunda is an enormous sow that has just given birth to a dozen small piglets. This is their story of life down on the farm. Call me a city boy, but the film depicts the daily mundane weeks in this pig's heaven (or hell) and I have chosen the right lifestyle for me. Still, it is a fascinating place to visit.
There are no voiceovers, no sweeping musical score, no Disney sentimentalizing... just straight-forward filming of natural country events. There are many grunts, squeals, and moos to be heard and lots of mud and flies buzzing around too.
This is a well-made documentary that tries to convey an animal's everyday existence. The wonderful sound design by Alexander Dudarev immerses the moviegoer into this rarely-seen animal kingdom. The masterful b&w photography by Egil Håskjold Larsen and the director is stunning with its low-level point of view and detailed close-ups of farm critters.
However, the story seems non-existent and Mr. Kosakovskiy lets scenes go on for far too long, at a turtle's pace, although none of those creatures are in sight. The documentary does eventually build to its subtle message about the cruelty of our food chain, but any astute moviegoer knows the fate of our little dirty dozen from the start. (A side note: All of our violent deeds are strongly implied, but mercifully not shown.) I could say there is much food for thought in this documentary, but then I would be called insensitive or callous. Let's just say, this film deserves your attention. (GRADE: B-)
