The Turin Horse

Director: Bela Tarr
Writer: Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Bela Tarr
Cast: Volker Spengler, Janos Derzi, Erika Bok
Theatrical Release Date: February 10, 2012
Festivals: Berlin International Film Festival
On The Web IMDB Entry

Synopsis: 1889. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche witnessed the whipping of a horse while traveling in Turin, Italy. He tossed his arms around the horse's neck to protect it then collapsed to the ground. In less than one month, Nietzsche would be diagnosed with a serious mental illness that would make him bed-ridden and speechless for the next eleven years until his death. But whatever did happen to the horse? This film follows up this question in a fictionalized story of what occurred. The man who whipped the horse is a rural farmer who makes his living taking on carting jobs into the city with his horse-drawn cart. The horse is old and in very poor health, but does its best to obey its master's commands. The farmer and his daughter must come to the understanding that it will be unable to go on sustaining their livelihoods. [Synopsis courtesy of IMDb]

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