Keswick Film Club - The Turin Horse

Synopsis

Béla Tarr has not made many films, but has had critical acclaim for triumphs such as (‘Werckmeister Harmóniák (2000)’, ‘Sátántangó (1994)’) He tells us this is to be his last movie and he has chosen to sign off with an apocalyptic, end of days story.

He begins by telling us that Nietzsche watched a horse being mistreated and was so upset he never worked again, never recovered, dying eleven years later. Tarr’s film then imagines the life of the unknown horse, following the horse and its owner through six days on a subsistence farm, where the horse refuses to drink or work and their subsistence, their very existence is threatened.

A bleak film, certainly, but one which critics and audiences alike have praised.