Robert Bresson’s 1966 film, Au Hasard Balthazar (recently released on R1 DVD by you-know-who) is a strangely enigmatic, gloomy and deeply moving masterpiece. No shit! Typical of Bresson, the pace is uniquely slow but also packed with events. In fact, over the coarse of only ninety-five minutes the film follows the life of a donkey (Balthazar) as he moves through the hands of seven different “owners,” who we get to know, and also follows the life of a young girl (the donkey’s first owner) from innocence to something much worse. Considerable time is spent on man’s cruelty to man and especially to “beast.” SPOILERS... when I wrote gloomy above, I meant it - not only do the three most major character characters experience horrible suffering, but they also all end up dead (in separate, but equally tragic incidents). Balthazar, who seems to possibly be the re-incarnated Christ(!!!), of course also suffers essentially the same fate as Jesus. Essential viewing for those who want to see cinema working on the highest levels and for those looking for something more than that - a cinema asking the most serious of questions.

Also of note is the twelve minute long interview with Donald Ritchie included on the disc. I think he does an amazing job of summing up what is so wonderful about Au Hasard Balthazar and Bresson’s approach to making movies. 6:58 PM >>> 0 comments

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