Summary: Charles Bailly is a French prisoner of war during the Second World War, billeted to work on a farm in Germany. With the support of his benign German tenants, he plans to escape to France, by crossing the German countryside with a cow. Bailly’s plan appears to go well at first, but he soon runs into difficulty…
This is a moving tale about one man’s unceasing initiative and stoical determination to regain his freedom in the face of overwhelming odds – clearly a metaphor for France’s struggle for freedom during the Nazi Occupation. That man is played by Fernandel, one of the true legends of French cinema, better known for his comic roles.
In this film, Fernandel plays the part as straight as a die, and demonstrates his remarkable talent as an actor. Although, from time to time, the film places him in situations which appear comic, his reaction is – unexpectedly – sober and subdued, bringing home the real penury of his character’s situation.
War is no joking matter, and the director Henri Verneuil makes the point brilliantly without drama or bloodshed. Also, Fernandel’s on-screen rapport and empathic relationship with his co-star, Marguerite the cow, is uncannily stirring, hinting at a strange, impossible bond of love between the French prisoner of war and the German farm animal.
The film’s great strength is its feeling of authenticity. The director Verneuil has no need to play up the drama – the drama is already there, in the story of the prisoner and his cow. This is moving personal story, beautifully filmed, acted and directed with maturity and reverence to the subject matter. It is a powerful lesson in the value of perseverance and loyalty, a film which evokes the sentiment of the war time mood, without recourse to spectacle or sentimentality. Few war films have the ring of truth about them which La vache et le prisonnier clearly has.
Review by: James Travers, 2000
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Subs: Castellano/English
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