Form and function work together beautifully in this short documentary. The protagonist, Jay, has been a beef farmer for decades but is seeking a gentler life and the film's director, Alex Lockwood, uses gentle sounds and images to tell Jay's story. Even the length of the storytelling is gentle: the film is a pleasant 15 minutes long. The director is so efficient and Jay so concise that those 15 minutes are all that's needed to be very compelling.
The changes we see Jay make do, in fact, succeed in giving him a "kinder, gentler" existence but Jay's life is not the only life that is changed. Jay's cows are certainly the beneficiaries of his more pleasant life. What we see develop is cyclical: what helps him, dramatically helps the cows, which in turn provides Jay with a way to make a living doing something that isn't, as he describes, "soul defeating."
The audience of this film is also lucky enough to get in on the Zen that proliferates. There's an inspirational, feel-good story of real life that we get to witness, all the while being treated to palettes of both colors and sounds that are enjoyable and, at times, soothing. Even Jay's voice, vernacular, and mannerisms are gentle.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if many viewers question their food choices after seeing this movie but that never seems to be the point. It's not even completely clear that the filmmaker has an agenda here beyond making a lovely film. If he does, he's far more successful than he is obvious. Often the way films and other entertaining mediums have nudged people towards healthier, more sustainable, and more cruelty-free food choices is through transparently educational dictums that show the route of unspeakable horrors that our food often takes before it gets to our plates. '73 Cows,' however, just tells a story that is quaint and we're just along for the telling, which is also done gently. We watch not because we're on a mission or feel like we're completing an assignment but because we just want to spend time with the characters, including the cows and especially Jay, and see their story. The larger issues do make their way into your head, but gently, quietly, and stay there, not haunting you, but giving you beautiful images and beautiful dialogue upon which you'll find yourself reflecting. My guess is that it will renew vegetarians' and vegans' commitment and also change, to some degree, meat eaters' food choices. And it will do it gently, which I can't help but think, after seeing this, may be more effective and more lasting.
And we get to see our reluctant hero, the unassuming Jay, get the happier life he wanted. Not through grand revelations, nor through depicting gut wrenching suffering, the filmmaker uses a different route to depict a protagonist who takes a different route. Along for the scenic ride, we see lush green fields, the muted tones of hay and modest living, beautiful non-human animals, and, at the center, a man made more human. After the running time of just 15 minutes, I felt a bit more human, too, and the happier for it.
