Small Deaths. Lynne Ramsay, 1995.
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Edition screened: Included on Criterion DVD #162 Ratcatcher, released 2002. Scots English with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 11 minutes.
Edition screened: Included on Criterion DVD #162 Ratcatcher, released 2002. Scots English with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 11 minutes.
Summary: Depiction of an abused and dying cow.
Details:
1) Beginning at 4:40 is a 10-second scene of teenage boys running to a small herd of dairy cows, yelling and picking up rocks.
2) At 6:20, two girls return to the scene and see a cow lying on her side, badly injured. They hear the laughing boys and see the bloody rocks around the cow. One of the girls realizes “It’s crying,” and we get a close-up of the cow’s eye as it closes and the animal dies. This all is over by 6:55.
This 11-minute film shows three events that lead to a girl’s emotional scarring. The first and third vignettes are powerful but easy to view. I recommend watching this short film, and simply skipping 4:30 through 7:00 if you so choose. Like Ratcatcher, Small Deaths makes clear how misguided it is to accept cruelty as a part of life or as a learning experience, for to do so is to hand over part of yourself to those who are anxious to cut down what remains. Lynne Ramsay’s production company is called Holy Cow. See also comments for Ratcatcher.