Gunda

A cinematic triumph of porcine poetry.

The film is ultimately about bigger issues, to do with respect for the planet, but Kossakovsky has found a brilliant, emotional and daring way into those concerns.

It's a film that requires a lot of patience, but if you can get under it's spell then it has a hypnotic quality.

Few films capture the intense, sticky bond between a mother and her offspring so simply and wrenchingly, without remark, or convey the knowledge that we carnivores are devouring souls with every bite of bacon.

Pigs are smart... An improbably beautiful work of barnyard art, Gunda figures that we're smart too.

The message comes through loud and painfully clear, no dubbed voices required.

The resolution is a strangely rewarding payoff due to how precisely it conveys and inspires a pure emotional response that feels earned and sincere.

Simply the most astonishing, moving, engrossing and beautiful film I've seen in months.

Without a word, Russian filmmaker Viktor Kossakovsky illuminates an idea in which farm animals exist on their own tranquil terms.

For people who want an intimate look at the common ground between the emotions in animals and humans, Gunda offers an immersive experience that requires patience ... The movie was filmed in black and white, so it looks artsier than it really is.