A Cow Named Luma Lights Up the Screen at Cannes

Academy Award winner Andrea Arnold may be best known for directing American Honey, or for her role as an Executive Producer on Big Little Lies.  But her latest film stars Luma, a cow living on a dairy farm outside of London.

In an interview with the New York Times, Arnold said that she never wanted to explain the film.  She “just wanted to show it and allow people to have their own experience.” And she “genuinely wanted to know if you followed her around enough, would you connect and see her?” So the film simply chronicles Luma’s life.

But the bleak reality seems to have moved the filmmaker deeply.  Putting aside the egregious cruelty that dairy cows so often face, the fact that we repeatedly impregnate them and separate them from their young, until one day leading them to slaughter, is a moving realization.  As a vegan, I hope that whoever watches will, if only for a moment, empathize with the animals that our society so thoughtlessly exploits.

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