By James “Magic” Perkins
The water is being polluted, the fish are dying, the cows are seeing their demise – and mother is back from the dead. First-time Chilean director Francisca Alegría brings us a gorgeous and heartbreaking family drama entwined with a powerful environmental message in The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future.
After thousands of fish wash up dead out of a polluted river in Chile, a woman named Magdelene rises from the water after being dead for decades. Making her way back to her family, who has had to move on with their lives after her death, we see how this pivotal event has affected each of them and has caused rifts in their relationships. Her children Ceci and Bernardo still hold a semblance of a bond but are polar opposites, Ceci’s children Tomas and Alma are struggling with gender identity and adapting to a single-parent life respectively and Magdelene’s widowed Husband holds resentment against his children for his wife’s passing and tries to maintain the family dairy farm. Once Magdelene reaches her family, each of their responses to her shocking return accurately portrays the nuances of generational attitudes towards the changing world, including pollution and climate change, whilst beautifully woven with a striking and grounded narrative of loss, grief, and acceptance.
Alegria’s telling of this story is spellbinding on its own but assembled with scintillating cinematography and moments of self-reflecting for the audience, including scenes of dying cows singing a song, crying out for their calves and begrudging their harsh and unlivable lives is something that on paper seems a little too magical or supernatural to work without being gimmicky, but with her expert direction, works to incredible effect making this film one that is an absolute must-see.
The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future is in select UK cinemas from March 24th.
