Cow

COW is set in 1940 during the turmoil of the Sino-Japanese war (in China, it's the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression). In this tragicomic film, a man and his cow manage to stay together in the face of the Imperial Japanese Army, the Eighth Route Communist forces, various thugs, and sundry starving refugees. Niu Er, a comical, simple-minded peasant, reluctantly accepts the assignment of looking after his village's most precious possession, an enormous Dutch dairy cow. When the village is decimated by Japanese fire bombs, Niu Er (“little cow” in Chinese) awakens to find everyone he knows has been burnt beyond recognition. Scampering through the ruins, he desperately seeks some sign of life. There, chewing placidly amidst the rubble, is the cow – his old friend, and now his sole companion. The heartbroken Niu Er names her after his late wife. Taking his role as her protector to heart, Niu Er fends off enemy soldiers and would-be butchers, even managing to feed an entire village with the help of his dear friend. COW is quirky yet affecting, an allegory for the persistence of the common man – and cow – in the face of adversity. (In Shandong dialect, Mandarin, and Japanese with subtitles) – B.B.