Film Review: Gunda (2020)
Gunda (2020) DIR. Victor Kossakovsky © Elevation Pictures
Extreme counter-programming seems to be on the rise. This immersive/intimate time spent with a mother sow and her newborn piglets seen from their vantage point without any visible human intervention is so pure in its lack of artifice that it belies the amount of effort required to make something so utterly natural. Filmed in high contrast black and white on a Norwegian farm, the opening shot is Gunda relaxing in the doorway of her barn, her face turned toward the sun. It is a stunningly beautiful still image. That is, until the first tiny piglet staggers up on top of her mountainous girth and tumbles outside into the sunlight. She has just given birth. The first is followed by another and then another until what appears to be all of the piglets. But when Gunda gets up to walk out into the barnyard she goes back to snuffle around in the straw and unearths a straggler who has not quite figured it out. She gently nudges him out with the others. It is a tender moment.
Gunda (2020) DIR. Victor Kossakovsky © Elevation Pictures
There appear to be 10 or 12 little ones and they are a demanding lot, endlessly hungry and climbing all over Gunda and each other vying for the best teat. She is endlessly patient with all of the clambering and squealing. In the beginning, the enormity of her body compared to the squirmy little ones seemed like a potential danger. Only once does she step on one of the piglets. The cameras are ingeniously placed inside the barn so that close ups bring us in without intruding on the ministrations of the attentive mother and her demanding brood.
Gunda (2020) DIR. Victor Kossakovsky © Elevation Pictures
The only sounds are animal and farmyard sounds. This is a free-range farm and all of the animals live natural lives without evident human intervention. The supporting roles are supplied by a herd of cows and a one-legged chicken. Of course, this idyllic pastoral life is an illusion and these animals are livestock to their owners and represent income. As we follow the tiny piglets grow into young healthy pigs who still depend on their mother, it comes as a shock when we see the young ones loaded into a truck and taken away. At the risk of injecting anthropomorphism, the heartbreaking sight of Gunda seeming confused and distressed by the absence of her brood is hard to see as anything less than grief. This is palpable.
Gunda (2020) DIR. Victor Kossakovsky © Elevation Pictures
The fact of their lives as part of a human enterprise over which they have no control is called into question in our minds without the utterance of a single word. Clearly they are sentient beings. I suspect that there will be many who will be persuaded to eschew pork in particular and possibly meat in general. Spending time in the natural world is important for humans in order to respect the uniqueness of the non-human ecosystem and behave with more sensitivity. I put this film in the same category as “My Octopus Teacher.” It is a chance to see things from a whole new perspective and expand our understanding. In my opinion, that is always a good thing.
