First Cow
First Cow opens with a line from William Blake’s Proverbs of Hell: “The bird, a nest, the spider, a web, man friendship.”
This is a statement about the nature of friendship. In it the great poet Blake suggests that as birds create and live in nests and spiders create and live in webs, so humans create and live in friendships. It suggests friendship is as complex, natural, and beautiful as the first two. It draws our attention to the many small acts that make up friendship, and suggests that friendship is part of our fabric as human beings.
Writer and Director Kelly Reinhardt takes this concept in First Cow and reveals it simply and gradually. You could call the movie a heist film. But it's much more. The story begins on a river. The opening shot is symbolic, telling us to slow down, take our time, notice things. This is a simple story, a slow story, with beautiful natural cinematography, highlighted with little camera movement, and subtle but powerful performances.
We begin with a discovery that launches us into the 1820s. The place is Oregon and it's full of drifters and settlers eager to succeed. This takes place during the beginnings of Capitalism. It shows how quickly capitalism and nature butt heads (just listen closely to learn how beavers are treated). It highlights how when civilizations pop up they exploit the resources of nature for their own gain.
In the midst of that backdrop two drifters encounter each other: Cookie Figowitz and King-Lu. The two form a business partnership and a deep friendship. This friendship is the heart and soul of the movie. Their relationship is instructive because it shows us the beauty and importance of companionship for all people, in all places, at all times.
If there's anything 2020 and the pandemic Covid-19 has taught us it's that isolation isn't good for humanity. We need community. We need relationships. We long for friendship. We get antsy and depressed when we lack that. Because as human beings we were created for relationship.
Indeed we were made for 2 great relationships: Relationship with God, and relationship with each other. In the first 2 chapters of the Bible we are told 6 times God made something in Genesis 1 and there's a declaration "it was good." Over and over we hear that phrase repeated. So what's the first thing we're told that is not good? Genesis 2 tells us, it was not good for man to be alone. so God makes Eve for Adam, and in that moment we get the first hallmark poem as Eve walks towards Adam he poetically declares how wonderful she is (The Hebrew is really intense with excitement). Adam never would've known his need for companionship. God revealed it to him and now mankind was complete!
Why do we enjoy holding hand, sitting by someone watching a movie, playing sports, a kiss, group work, collaboration, because we were made for fellowship, companionship, friendship. God designed it this way. It's a gift from Him. And when we love and live in relationship with God and others we are fulfilling the purpose for which we were created for. It's movies like First Cow punctuate this reality.
"Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart."
~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ~
4 out 5 Stars