"Old Partner"

[Kevin Cunningham]

I ordered the DVD with subtitles because there is no way I could stream that with my satellite internet. We watched it last night with family and it was amazing! The dialouge may or may not help understand the film but the human animal connection was apparent. Even my in-laws who have no connection to farming, other than knowing us, loved it. Everybody was amazed at how such slow moving characters could keep the audience so enthralled. It was a slow paced movie (by modern standards) but nobody got bored. We all lingered after the film and watched all the extras and talked about the film for a while, like no one wanted to let it go. The DVD has an interview with the director as an extra and his reasons for making the film were to honor our parents and the oxen that have brought us to where we are. It was a good reminder that in most of the world even the affluent city folk (like the director of the film) have a direct connection to farming and animals, he talks about the ox his father had when he was growing up. This film is a gem and I do suggest getting the DVD version because it does enhance the visual experience to understand the dialouge. Thank you Andrew for sharing this as it is one of the most incredible videos I have ever seen.

[Andy Carson]

just out of curiosity, Kevin, is there anything you plan to do differently with your cattle (or at least try) based on the lessons from this video? If so, what?

[Oxhill]

That is excellent to hear! I have not ordered it yet myself but is is bookmarked to go on my next order.

[Kevin Cunningham]

Well I wouldn’t say that this film shows the most humane or well treated ox in the world, but instead what comes through is the admiration of ox and teamster together. The director says himself that he did not want to show only the picturesque country side, and romanticize the farmer, but rather show how the rural lifestyle is degrading and sometimes it looks a little shabby. You see this in the video there are some amazing shots of beautiful scenery and then there are some seriously sad looking farmstead realities. So I guess all this is to say that I might not do anything in particular different from seeing this but rather I am going to keep doing what I am and maybe someday I can be an eighty year old farmer and have an old partner to help.

[Author]

Posts