Review of The Turin Horse

This movie depicts the apocalypse as it would have happened about 150-200 years back in the Hungarian plains. The horseman and his mare are presumably from the famous Nietzsche episode. Nietzsche saw the rough treatment of the animal & felt that it had to be the end of the world when man has to be so brutal to an animal. Apparently, Tarr ran with this idea & this movie is the result of that long run. It has been said that principles are the luxury that can be afforded only by the rich of the society. The oppressed folks can barely afford to eat 2 meals a day and therefore cannot afford to have principles. Through this movie, Tarr is possibly trying to show the horseman's life and point of view, not that the poor guy was shown to have any, struggling as he was with his daily existence. The horseman and his daughter are dirt-poor & their sole source of income is the mare. Perhaps this sense of impending doom forced the horseman to be brutal to the animal. Tarr also tried to do justice by Nietzsche and put before us a scenario wherein the end of the world as feared by Nietzsche was really nigh. The horseman's poor treatment of the animal could be seen to have stemmed from his own mistreatment by the society. The horseman and his daughter are shown to be some of the last surviving members of a world which is quickly spiraling towards doom, all in a timespan of 6 days! So, according to Tarr, the world ends just the way it began, at least according to the Christian version of origin of life. As with any natural calamity, the animal senses the doom before the humans do. Over the 6 days, the mare stops moving, then eating and finally drinking water too. The humans keep up their struggle for a bit longer. When their well dries up, they try to look for an alternative place to live, but they return soon, perhaps because as their neighbour had told them, the rest of the city has long been abandoned & is more uninhabitable than their present home. However, soon after their return, the sunlight goes away, followed by their lamps and finally the embers in their stove/heater combo. Forced to eat raw potatoes now, the daughter gives in to despair and her father follows soon after. For Tarr, the world really does end with a whimper!