Review: 'EO' is a simple, yet richly detailed, story of a donkey's life with and away from humans.
Sometimes the movies that are the easiest to synopsize are the hardest to explain — and that’s the case with “EO,” a beautiful and brutal movie that shows us the world through the soulful eyes of a much-abused donkey.
When we first meet the donkey named EO, his life seems to be chaotic — he’s part of an animal act in a circus, with flashing lights and screaming crowds all around. But, in reality, he’s well taken care of, and loved, by his human performing partner, Kasandra (Sandra Drzymalska). That apparently comfortable life is short-lived, as a group of animal-rights activists picket the circus, and a tax official confiscates the circus’ animals over unpaid debts.
This is how EO’s journey begins. He is first sent to a horse breeder’s ranch, assigned to pull a hay wagon and to be a calming influence on the ranch’s star stallion. That situation is short-lived, and EO soon ends up somewhere else. Over the course of the movie, he ends up pulling carts, entertaining petting-zoo tours, put onto trucks headed to the butcher’s, lionized as a soccer team’s lucky charm, and rescued by a young man (Lorenzo Zurzolo) with an odd relationship with an older woman (Isabelle Huppert).
Those human dramas, when they come late in the film, feel more like distractions — which is a credit to how veteran director Jerzy Skolimowski as rewired his audience to take things at the donkey’s pace. It doesn’t take long for the audience to become attuned to the rhythms of a donkey’s life, and seeing things from his point of view.
It’s not all bucolic settings and an endless supply of carrots, though. EO witnesses a fair amount of violence, sometimes aimed at him and sometimes doled out by humans on each other. EO doesn’t seem to try to make sense of it — and it’s a credit to Skolimowski and co-writer Ewa Piaskowska that they refrain from being anthropomorphic about it. We come to care for this donkey’s thoughts and feelings because he is a donkey, and somewhat unknowable because of that.
Fans of classic movies may recognize “EO,” as an updated version of Robert Bresson’s 1966 classic “Au hazard Balthazar,” also a story of a donkey taken from the girl who raised him and put on a road trip encountering good people and bad ones. Watching that classic isn’t a requirement before seeing “EO,” because its quiet charms and minimal dialogue don’t require any preliminaries. Just look into those big eyes, and follow that scraggly beast through his complicated life.
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‘EO’
★★★1/2
Opens Friday, January 6, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City). Not rated, but probably R for some violence and sexual references. Running time: 88 minutes; in Polish, Italian, English, French and Spanish, with English subtitles.