‘EO’ Review: ‘Au Hasard Balthazar’ Homage Is a Case of Been There, Donkey That
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film CriticGive an animal a name, and it becomes a lot more difficult to send it to the glue factory. But people don’t stop using paste simply because they’ve made an equine friend.
Named for the animal it follows from owner to owner, through various hardships and across national borders, “EO” is a damning polemic on our relationship to other intelligent species — as free labor, food and companions — as seen through the dewy, wide eyes of a donkey whom we come to adore.“EO’s” inspiration is obvious.
In Robert Bresson’s 1966 “Au Hasard Balthazar,” two kids christened a newborn donkey in the film’s opening minutes. By the end, when Balthazar sighed his last breath, audiences wept, such was the attachment they had formed.
Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski reckons Bresson’s relatively austere classic was the only time he shed a tear in the cinema.
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