Turin horse (2011)

There are movies about the apocalypse like Independence Day: brash, loud movies where not much beyond the action is interesting. Then there are psychologically tinged movies like Last Night, Melancholia and perhaps Quiet Earth - movies that say something about the human condition through stories about how the world is coming to an end. And then there is Turin Horse. I dare say it is unlike any other movie. Or well, if it could be compared to anything, it is the rest of Béla Tarr's oeuvre (or what do you think?). Tarr has stated this movie to be his last, and watching in, one can understand why. It is simply hard to imagine a cinematic place beyond Turin horse. I assume Tarr is not the type of person who could change gears and start making romantic comedies.

It is quite rare that you find it hard as a viewer to spell out even the main topic of the film. Usually, it is completely straightforward what it means to sum up "the story" or at least to give a main idea about the themes of the film. Turin horse, as many other movies by Béla Tarr, can't be unwrapped in that way. Of course one can say different things about how one views it, but I always feel uncomfortable doing this.

In the beginning of the film, a voice-over says a few words about Friedrich Nietzsche who before he had a mental break-down that led to a long period of silence, saw a horse being whipped and embraced it. But what about the horse? We see a horse on screen. A man takes it home. He steers violently, handling the animal cruelly. The wind is howling. They arrive home, to a small isolated house where the man lives with his daughter. But the horse has had enough. It won't move, and it won't eat. The man and his daughter try to stick to their daily routines - which the film meticulously follows - but it is as if the basis of life, life itself, is shrinking. We see them dress, eat, fetch water, tend to the horse. But then the well dries up. They continue with their routines even when it becomes impossible to light a match. Every possibility of life has eroded. They - endure, but what does endurance mean? This is one of the mysteries posed by the film (I wonder what Arendt would say).

Some have suggested their defiance (and the horse's!) expresses a form of heroism, but I'm not sure if I would call it that. Nor does Tarr seem to be an existentialist who would point us towards "absurdity" and meaning as some sort of "creation" of the will against all odds. I guess one might think of Camus etc. but somehow I feel that misses something. But Turin Horse is an extremely open-ended film. It not at all clear how the film relates to Nietzsche, whether we should see an affirmation of what he says or rather a rebuttal of his perspective. But at least it is hard to see the film as a glorious celebration of individual strength - one could just as easily see it as a film about how the man and his daughter are dependent on everything around them.

The story is stripped to its bones, and so is cinema. It's a stern film in that way, but somehow it does not come out pompous or far-fetched. If you agree with the premises, you will follow Tarr's journey to the end of the world (as some have suggested, to the de-creation of the world). The camera focuses on the routines. The black&white cinematography is matched with the naked sound of howling wind along with an insistent piece of music and a very, very sparse dialog - mostly the film is silent. At one point a neighbor bursts in and talks about something that seems to come straight from Nietzsche's Zarathustra, but the bearing of this little speech, or rambling, on the arch of the film remains elusive. So as you realize having read this far is that the very limited setting of the film never becomes boring, not for a minute did I squirm in my chair and this is not because Tarr would make drudgery look interesting (it doesn't). Somehow, the film drags you along and I felt completely immersed in its cinematic universe. The problematic scenes I noticed there (one scene in which a band of people appears and already before they have arrived the man is sure they are "gypsies") did not destroy the rest of the film, an exquisite artistic achievement solely in pulling off making a movie about - well, whatever you want to call it - the end of the world, the shrinking of life or de-creation. 

The Turin Horse is not a movie about psychology. Both characters remain inscrutable and I was not for a minute tempted to worry about what is going on in their heads. As I said, we are confronted with a mystery, and this mystery is not begging for answers but perhaps, an active gaze. Turin Horse didn't puzzle me - it is one of those movies that sharpens your senses and your engagement - a film to marvel at.