Academy Award-winner Andrea Arnold returns with an intimate portrait of one dairy cow’s life, highlighting the beauty and challenges that cows face, and their great service to us all.
Made over a six-year period, Andrea Arnold’s first feature-length documentary immerses us in the days and nights of Luma, a dairy cow. When Luma gives birth, she seems the happiest she can be. But Luma’s devastated when separated from her calf. Her next impregnation is shorter than a one-night stand. The human beings monitoring Luma are seen on the edge of the frame, their voices a constant off-screen chorus of mainly affectionate, yet controlling, encouragement. We might wonder about the state of Luma’s soul. A heartbreakingly beautiful film, COW provokes a conversation about the emotional lives of animals.