Miriam Balanescu
, May 7th, 2021 09:01
Kelly Reichardt’s forthcoming First Cow, along with Oscar darlings Nomadland and Minari, bring a fresh, environmentally minded perspective to the age-old western, finds Miriam Balanescu
Several men sit at a bar, in a frontier settlement somewhere in Oregon. The Columbia river gushes nearby. They are talking about a cow, the first to be brought to the settlement via the river. Her mate and calf have not survived the journey. “This ain’t a place for cows,” one man says. “Well, it’s no place for white men either,” another replies. Their conversation feels searingly ironic when reflecting on a country whose cinematic history is dominated by white men, and whose national dish is the hamburger. Yet this is also a reminder that much of America’s multinational colonial history has been erased.