Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.
I discovered this film as one often does – by looking for works featuring an actress that I had liked in a couple of other films. This was a little bit of a special case, however, since the actress in question, Ana Torrent, I had seen performing only when she was five (Spirit of the Beehive) and when she was eight (Cria!) years of age. I had my curiosity and I wanted to see if this phenomenal child actress had grown up to be a good adult actress as well. I looked over her filmography, checked out some of the leads thus acquired using Epinions (of course!), and settled on two films from the 1990’s: Vacas (1991) and Thesis (1996) (which I’ll be reviewing later in the week). I find that following the line of work of a particular performer or director is a pretty nice way to get to some interesting films that you might otherwise overlook. Sometimes, however, that method leads only to a wasted evening. That’s the gamble that you take.
This evening, however, was one of the lucky ones! By chasing after Ms. Torrent, I ran into a young Spanish director that I had previously been overlooking: Julio Medem. On the strength of this first experience, which, incidentally, was his debut feature film (he had directed five shorts previously), I shelled out a few bucks for two more of his films that I’ll get to, once they arrive, in the weeks ahead. Vacas is an exceptional film, especially for a debut feature film, and would have to move into my top ten Spanish-language films all-time.
Historical Background: Julio Medem was born Julio Medem Lafont on October 21, 1958, in San Sebastian, Basque, Spain, making him 45 going on 46 as I write. Note in particular his origin in the Province of Basque, since this film is set in Basque and very much locality specific. After he made his mark with Vacas, Medem followed with The Red Squirrel (1993), Tierra (1996) (which has a couple of Epinions reviews and which I’ve seen raved about elsewhere), The Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998) (also well-regarded), Sex and Lucía (2001) (possibly his most popular film to date and currently with three Epinions reviews), and The Skin Against Stone (2003). One reviewer at another site states that “Julio Medem is the most sophisticated and most sensitive contemporary Spanish director and a lot of aspects of his works are much better than Almodóvar’s and Saura’s films.” Based on my sole experience with Medem I can’t necessarily second that comment but I also won’t dispute it. I’ll need to see more.
Vacas is something of an epic, covering the story of two neighboring and feuding families over a sixty year time period and three generations. The setting is Basque and the time is roughly 1875-1935. The film concludes with the onset of the Spanish Civil War, which is probably at least somewhat familiar to most readers, but few of you are likely to be aware of what was transpiring in Spain circa 1875. It was the time of the Second Carlist War. To understand the origins of the Carlist Wars one has to go back to the early part of the nineteenth century. After the expulsion of Joseph Bonaparte from Spain in 1814, Ferdinand VII (son of the previous King) took the throne and immediately abrogated the 1812 constitution, reestablished the centrality of the Church, and recommenced the Inquisition. Although the liberal elements in Spain (including some Army officers) resisted, Ferdinand (with the aid of the Holy Alliance) put down the 3liberal revolt.
The practice in Spain with regards to royal succession had always been based solely on the male line, but in 1831, Ferdinand, having no sons, designated his daughter Isabella (then one year of age) as his successor and she became queen in 1833, with her mother, Maria Cristina as regent. This did not sit well with Ferdinand’s brother, Don Carlos, who would otherwise have succeeded to the throne. His supporters became known as Carlists while the supporters of Isabella and her mother were known as Cristinas. The Carlists were particularly strong in the northern provinces, including Basque and Catalonia. The Carlists were defeated, however, in the First Carlist War in 1839 and Don Carlos fled to France. Nevertheless, Carlists persisted in Spain, even after Don Carlos (1788-1855) relinquished his claim to the Spanish throne in favor of his son, Don Carlos Luis Fernando de Bordón (1818-1861) and when the latter later relinquished his claim to his nephew, Don Carlos Maria de los Delores de Bordón (1848-1909). The Carlist followers of this third Don Carlos were defeated by forces of King Amadeus in 1872 but when a republic replaced the monarchy in 1873, the Carlists gained control of several provinces of Spain, notably Basque. They were driven out of Spain, however, in the Second Carlist War (1874-6), which is where the story of Vacas picks up.
The Story: The story of this film is not easy to follow. It begins in the trenches of Biscay, where Manuel Iriguibel (Carmelo Gómez) is serving as a nervous new recruit. Although already renowned as an aizcolari (a ax-man who competes in log cutting contests – a very popular sport in Basque), Manuel is far less skilled with a rifle and is very much in fear of his life. Further along the same trench, Carmelo Mendiluze (Kandido Uranga), a sergeant in the Carlist forces and a neighbor of Manuel, is informed of his neighbor's presence by a young boy, Ilegorri (Ortzi Balda), who serves as a runner. Anxious for news from home, Carmela pays Manuel an impromptu visit and learns that his wife at home has just given birth to a boy. Just then, the attack on the trench line begins. Manuel is a nervous wreck, shaking uncontrollably, and Carmela attempts to calm him and help him aim his rifle. Manuel’s cowardice ends up having tragic consequences and he compounds his ignominy by smearing himself with the blood of the dying Carmela, so that he will be taken for dead and carted away from the front lines. Later, he slips out from among the corpses, fully stripped of his clothing, and makes his way home, having seen more than enough of the horror of war to last him a lifetime. The first creature he encounters as he crawls toward home is a humble cow and, thereafter, Manuel decides that he has more in common with the pastoral life of cows than the violent life of people.
The story now skips forward thirty years to 1805 and another generation. Manuel is now an eccentric old man (Txema Blasco), whose life centers around painting cows. He may dote on his granddaughters but it is the cows that get featured in his pastoral paintings. The Iriguibels and the Mendiluzes live on neighboring farms but have developed an intense rivalry, possibly dating to Manuel’s desertion of the Carlist cause, to which Carmelo gave his life. Despite the bitterness between the two families, their fates are inextricably linked, especially as the hatred that fuels the feud is not fully shared by all of the women and children. The Iriguibels are a large family. Manuel has a grown son, Ignacio (Carmelo Gómez, in a second role), who has inherited his father’s skill as an aizcolari. Manuel also has a daughter, Madalen (Klara Badiola), and, through her, three granddaughters, of whom Christina (Ane Sánchez) is the youngest (and most relevant to the story). At the Mendiluzes's house, there is just Juan Mendiluzes (Kandido Uranga, in a second role) and his sister Catalina (Ana Torrent). Ignacio and Juan are ardent rivals – both superb ax-men. Catalina doesn’t share her brothers hatred of Ignacio and, in fact, is as urgently attracted to Ignacio as he is to her. Ilegorri (Karra Elejalde), the errand boy of the trench in 1875 but now an adult, arranges for a match between the two, which is cause for excitement throughout the community. Wages are duly placed on each of the contestants. Juan is the stronger of the two but Ignacio is the quicker and it is Ignacio who finishes dissecting the ten thick trunks first. Ignacio takes home the winnings as well as earning the right to compete later against the Basque champion. Juan is crushed to lose to his arch rival. Ignacio also “wins” a roll with Catalina among the reeds in the thick forest separating their farms. Flash forward another ten years.
Catalina, though unmarried, now has a son of about nine, named Peru (Miguel Ángel Garcia). Obviously his biological father is Ignacio. Juan has grown increasingly embittered and somewhat unstable. Both Catalina and Peru are fearful of him. Ignacio, by contrast, has continued to win one match after another and has acquired fame and fortune. He has a fancy white car and photographers travel with him to his home to take pictures of him and his entire clan.
Despite his uncle’s resentment, Peru spends time with the Iriguibels and is particularly smitten with Christina (who would be his first cousin, but the taboo against first cousins marrying or being involved was much less in the nineteenth century than it is today, especially in rural communities). Christina is equally fond of Peru. Christina and Peru spend a lot of time with their grandfather, Manuel, learning about nature, including snails, ants, a praying mantis, the huge old tree stump where the snakes nest, the scythe-wielding scarecrow, and the axe-wielding wild boar trap. Most of all, they learn about cows. In some shots of this trio, director Medem actually gives us a cow’s eye view of the proceedings. We see the group framed in the circular pupil of the cow’s eye as though we were awash in the aqueous humor looking out! Later, Medem complements these shots with similar ones from the lens of a camera, stolen from the photographers who traipse after Ignacio.
As Juan’s envy and jealousy reaches dangerous proportions, he tries to force an incestuous relationship on his sister, which she successfully battles off (barely). Ignacio and Catalina make the cataclysmic decision to move with Peru to America. Peru has a harrowing last ordeal getting away from his now-abandoned uncle. It is a bittersweet escape for Peru, because it necessitates his leaving his beloved Christina behind. He promises to write and the two do exchange letters for some twenty years. Included in the exchanges is Peru’s report of his marriage and birth of a daughter and Christina’s mention of a boyfriend, Lucas, son of Ilegorri.
SPOILERS AHEAD: SKIP TO THEMES IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE AND PRESERVE THE SURPRISES
It is now 1835 and the Spanish Civil War has heretofore left rural Basque unscathed. Life continues on the two farms much as it had for generations. Juan has joined the fascist forces but most of the Basque men support the leftists fighting to preserve the Republic. Christina (Emma Suarez), strolling through the old forest, is suddenly face to face with an old friend. The now-adult Peru (Carmelo Gómez, in a third role) has come to Spain to photograph the war, as a journalist for an American newspaper. Their old love is quickly rekindled and now burns white hot with the flames of adult passion. Down in the pasture, with only a voyeuristic old cow looking on, Peru fulfills his preordained role as Christina’s stud bull.
Their moment of bliss is short-lived, however. A community gathering the next day is interrupted by word of fascist troops approaching through the woods. The men rush off into the forest with their weapons and are soon engaged in a pitched battle. Peru accompanies them with his camera. The Republican locals have the worst of it. Those not killed in battle are taken prisoner and, later, executed. Even Peru is stood in front of the firing squad, but is recognized by his uncle, Juan, and spared. Peru and Christina swear eternal togetherness to one another and decide to leave for the safety of France.
Themes: There are multiple themes addressed in this complex film, but foremost, I think, is the insanity of war that Manuel, at least, has come to grasp. Human beings – the most intelligent critters on the face of the earth – are also the only species that engages in the brutality of organized warfare. The title of this film, “Vacas”, means cows. Medem is asking us to stop and consider, for a moment, just how foolish we humans must appear to a cow that looks on in wonder as we slaughter one another with rifles or swords. Medem asks us to take the cow’s perspective of things by repeatedly shooting scenes from the cow’s eye or with a cow standing nearby, watching. They stand passively, munching on the grass, periodically dropping dung, contentedly adhering to nature’s plan. Periodically, the bestial bovines look up and see a horde of insane primates, lined up in a trench, slaughtering their own kind or being slaughtered instead. Manuel makes the choice to think and be like a cow and to paint them in all their pastoral glory – to forsake the madness of his fellow man. He willingly tells Christina that he is mad (by human standards) – that he lives on the other side of some great divide. We all have to ask: Who’s crazy? Manuel and the cows that live harmonious, gentle, contended lives or the war-waging elements of human society?
Medem also illustrates the issue of the unnaturalness of irrational hostility on a more personal scale – feuds and vendettas. Juan tries to isolate his sister from his neighbors, because of his envy and bitter sense of rivalry. Nature, however, will have its way. Catalina and Ignacio are drawn to each other irresistibly, by sheer animal magnetism. Does a stud bull ask the cow what clan she belongs to before humping her? What her politics are? What her religion is?
Production Values: The first thing you notice in watching this film is a high level of tension – not only in the battle scenes and the aizcolari contest, but pretty much throughout. During the opening credits, for example, we watch Manuel chopping away at a log in his bare feet, nervously wondering if and when he’s going to chop off one of his big toes. We watch various characters in the woods, wondering what is going to jump out at them. We see the young Peru being chased by his angry uncle and dangled head first into the snake-infested hollow trunk. The film is full of foreboding that keeps viewers riveted. Part of what holds our attention is the rich contrasts: violence vs. harmony, duty vs. love of life, animal life vs. human life, people driven apart by feuds and drawn together by passion.
At the same time, you notice the remarkable beauty of the images – the astounding camerawork, the beautiful pastoral settings, and the many close-ups of the minutia of nature. The sexual trysts are beautifully and tastefully shot as well – Ignacio and Catalina in the first half of the film and Peru with Christina later. There are some wonderful surreal images. One that stands out in my mind is when Christina suddenly encounters the adult Peru in the woods. All of a sudden, time seems to float by as the two glide together motionlessly. Medem gives this pastoral world of Basque a magical quality.
Vacas is not flawless, however. It’s one major shortcoming is that the narrative is difficult to follow. It’s hard to keep characters straight and all the more so when several of the performers play multiple roles. I found tangible evidence of this difficulty in the unusual number of erroneous assertions made by reviewers about plot elements of this film. One reviewer states that Peru is Juan’s younger brother, while, in fact, Peru is Juan’s nephew (son of his sister). Another reviewer comments on the incestuous nature of the romance between Christina and Peru, stating that they are half-siblings! No, they are first cousins. Honestly, though, I had difficulty myself getting the relationships straight with one viewing. It is a weakness of the film for which reviewers can hardly be blamed.
The performances were splendid – highly natural and fully engaging. Emma Suarez is not glamorously beautiful but beautiful in an earthy way. Exactly what the part demanded. The kind of girl you’d take up to the hay loft or roll around with in the cow dung and be happy for it. She is also a very talented performer. Carmelo Gómez was highly effective in his triple role. I knew that the first two roles he played were the same actor but had no idea that the adult Peru was also played by this same man – until I read about the film after watching it. The child actress, Ane Sánchez, was lovely and expressive as the young Christina. She didn’t have enough screen time to render a fair comparison with Ana Torrent’s great child performances of the 1970’s, but she was as effective as she could be with the role she was given. That, of course, brings me full circle to the reason I sat down to watch the movie in the first place – to check out Ana Torrent as an adult actress. She was very good. Her role was not one of the two lead roles, but she was excellent with what she had. Comely, magnetic, earthy. Long live Ana!
Bottom-Line:Vacas is a truly powerful film and very accomplished in the range of elements effectively utilized. We are left with a profound sense of the circularity of life, the repetition of events across generations, the symbols that exist all around us, and the profound paradox engendered by the monstrous inhumanity of that uniquely human practice called war.
The DVD version of Vacas is part of the Vanguard Spanish-language title series. The transfer is superlative – clean and crisp, with vivid colors. Otherwise, the DVD is close to the no-frills variety. The subtitles are the non-optional type and the extras are limited to short film notes, filmographies for the director and stars, trailers for several Medem films, and a few stills. The running time is just a bit over 1.5 hours.
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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Spain:
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