Oscar 2023 nominee EO is proof we need more animal perspectives in movies

None of the six donkeys that star in Jerzy Skolimowski’s Oscar contender EO will receive a statue at the 2023 Oscars ceremony, even if the film does pull off an unlikely upset in the Best International Feature Film category against its stiffest competition, Edward Berger’s All Quiet on The Western Front. Animals aren’t eligible for Academy Awards, though plenty of movies embraced by the Academy have featured animal actors, like Terry (Toto in The Wizard of OzPopcorn Deelites and Seabiscuit in Seabiscuit).

Yet, centering EO on a donkey as the subject rather than as an object, as the star rather than a supporting figure, is what makes Skolimowski’s movie a unique experience, both in and outside the context of the Oscars. Whatever DoesThe International Feature Film Award will go to the most conventional film in comparison. EOThis movie is the most convincing argument that movies need to include more animal perspectives.

Skolimowski, an eclectic veteran Polish filmmaker and painter who is also an actor in movies such as Essential KillingAnd 11 minutes (and a bit player, oddly enough, in 2012’s MCU movie The Avengers() Filters EOIt is told through the eyes its protagonist: a lonely, loveable donkey wandering around Italy and Poland. A camera is just as important. Can show an audience the world according to a beast, cinematographer Michał Dymek tries. EO’s eyes are Dymek’s constant, an anchor he returns to repeatedly for reaction shots between representations of humankind’s worst and best. The donkeys playing EO can’t act or react as a human performer would: He comes across as unflappable, placid and cool. His expressionlessness, however, is a reminder to think about how he perceives the world.

EO, a plaintive donkey wandering around Europe looking for his trainer, is seen in a side-on extreme closeup in a shot from EO

Janus Films – Photo

Skolimowski’s contribution to cinema’s “sad donkey” niche joins films like 1966’s Au Hasard Balthazar, alongside 2022’s Oscar-nominated examples Triangle of SadnessAnd The Banshees from Inisherin. It’s also kin to movies about critters other than donkeys, like Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow and Michael Sarnoski’s PigProductions which respect the animal characters of their companions but give the story-telling reins to human actors.

EOIt is a deep tragedy. Heartbreak is baked into the movie’s logline: EO, a donkey happily performing before adoring circus crowds with his handler, Kasandra (Sandra Drzymalska), is wrested from her custody by the state. After several transfers, he flees from his owners and wanders the creations, apparently trying to return to Kasandra. The range of his misadventures include the strange, the funny and the horrifying.

EO, the donkey protagonist of the 2023 Oscars contender EO, crosses an arched bridge in front of a vast dam pouring foamy white water out of a series of spillways

Janus Films – Photo

“The state” in this movie is led by a pompous government official who, after liberating the circus’s menagerie from the performers, pats himself on the back with a speech about “amending irregularities.” Skolimowski lays out his thesis right here: The people least qualified to administer animal welfare are the ones in positions of power, rather than people like Kasandra, whose love for EO is tender and unconditional. Admittedly, one of Kasandra’s fellow circus folk Does abuse EO, but he doesn’t treat people much differently. There are plenty of ambassadors for human/animal relationships who possess stronger credentials than he does throughout the movie.

The farmers who welcome EO to their stable; the special-needs children who visit the farm and shower him with affection and petting; the soccer fans who adopt him as their mascot after winning a game against their rivals; richling Vito (Lorenzo Zurzolo), who whisks EO away from a crime scene to his family’s villa, and chats with him like an old friend rather than a random donkey — these characters represent humanity in the best light possible as stewards for animal well-being.

On the other hand, there’s the furrier who kills caged foxes; the Peril soccer team’s violent hooligan fans, who take out their frustrations on EO; and the hunters creeping through the foreboding woods at night, lighting their way with green laser sights. Together, they make up the “people suck” side of EO’s journey.

But winnowing the movie down to that misanthropic message serves Skolimowski’s work poorly. EO sugarcoats nothing: Humanity’s darkest tendencies are shown in unflinching detail, all the way up to murder. (Vito’s relationships with his impassioned stepmother — played by Isabelle Huppert with her usual level of hard-jawed intensity — doesn’t suggest much faith in human relationships, either.) But there’s light in that darkness, a wellspring of goodwill toward man, all reflected in the bottomless depth of EO’s gaze. He’s aware of the kindnesses shown him and the cruelties inflicted on him, even when he isn’t the focus of the frame, or in the frame at all. And he’s aware that he misses his caretaker and hopes to return to her, to the point where he leaves idyllic safety to go find her, as donkey-POV flashes make it clear what he’s thinking.

EO, the donkey protagonist of the 2023 Oscars contender EO, hangs out in a horse trailer with a dark-haired man who’s looking deeply into his eyes

Janus Films – Photo

It’s rare that the Oscars recognize a film like EOThis is where the animal gets the spotlight, while humans are the supporting cast. If the Academy had ignored Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything at Once, EO would indisputably be the year’s most unique nominee. This is it. All You Need’s idiosyncrasies, though, the Daniels are invested in the human condition, explored from a human point of view.

EOInvests in animal perspective. Not even SeabiscuitThis claim can be supported. The matter of experience observed is vital; while every film is a chance to see the world through another person’s eyes, movies rarely offer the same opportunity for animals. One of those films is “The Last Jedi.” DoThey all fail to reach the same level of fame and recognition that the Academy Awards offer. There are many movies that the Academy would love to have. EO — but most of all, moviegoers could too.

EOIs streaming via The Criterion ChannelAvailable for rent or purchase Amazon, VuduYou can also visit these other platforms.

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