FILM REVIEW: "EO" is a beautiful, sad, and poignant tragedy

Simply put, EO is a poignant tragedy. Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski (Essential Killings; Swimming Pool), written and produced by Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska, this is the story of a kind-hearted and spirited Donkey who has been stripped of agency in an unkind world.

EO is played by six different donkeys in total; Tako, Hola, Marietta, Ettore, Rocco, and Mela. Although undetectable to the audience, Skolimowki says each donkey had their own individual strengths; one allegedly being the Tom Cruise of the film, another being capable of exuding a more ‘seductive’ quality.

EO’s journey begins in Poland where he is a circus performer alongside his human companion Kassandra. Their love is deep and mutual, providing a loyal and protective safe-haven for one another. When the circus goes bankrupt and its animals seized, Kassandra and EO are painfully separated from each other, and so begins EO’s exhaustive journey across Poland and Italy.

My use of the word journey is not intended to incite the usual wonder and awe. EO has his agency taken from him and is throttled from owner to owner, his sentience rarely acknowledged or appreciated. EO is the hero of this tragic story, a story where the sheer insanity of the man-made world is impossible to ignore.

The soundscapes throughout EO are powerful. They alternate between the ASMR of hooves clopping and natural ambience, to the painfully bright man-made sounds of metal and machinery. The tense atmosphere of this film is executed by an unsettling score of strings and horns that reflect the inner turmoil and distress of EO himself, which was at times, reminiscent of the score in documentary KOYAANISQATSI (Godfrey Reggio, 1982).

EO is as beautiful as it is sad. The film is an ode to animal activism and cruelty-awareness; the viewer is confronted by the commodification of animals, the lack of autonomy awarded to them, and the sheer disregard for the emotions that animals surely feel. The viewer is positioned to witness the treatment of animals through the eyes of EO, a sweet and innocent creature who has no choice but to accept his fate.