EO

EO is a 2022 Polish-Italian drama road movie directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. Inspired by Robert Bresson's 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar, it follows the life of a donkey introduced to us while featured in a Polish circus. The film premiered in competition at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2022, where it won the Jury Prize tying with The Eight Mountains. Submitted by Poland, EO was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. Plot EO is a donkey working for a Polish circus. He performs in an act with Kasandra, who loves and protects him. When Animal Rights activists help get the circus shut down, EO is taken away, and is brought to a horse stable to work. In the truck being transported, and at the stables, EO sees horses running free, and being pampered. After knocking over a shelf of trophies, EO is sent to a farm, where he seems depressed and won’t eat. He gives rides to children through woods, where trees continue to be cut down to create space for man. One night Kasandra visits him, bringing him a carrot muffin for his birthday, and telling him “may all your dreams come true.” When she leaves, EO gets through the fence and tries to follow her, getting lost. EO walks through the dark forest among various non-human life. Hunters with laser scopes begin shooting. EO observes a mortally wounded wolf. Sometime later EO walks through an empty town, and in a store window sees tropical fish in an aquarium. He ends up at a soccer game, and his braying distracts a penalty shot, angering the losing team. The winning team takes EO with them to a local bar. That night, members of the losing team ransack the bar, and upon seeing EO, beat him, nearly to death. A four-legged robot is seen struggling to successfully stand and right itself. EO is at an animal hospital, where a janitor questions why the Vet is trying to save him. Later EO is working at a fur factory where a man shocks and kills terrified foxes. EO kicks the man in the head, possibly killing him. EO is loaded into a truck with other animals, though he isn’t on the manifest. The driver, Mateo, stops at a rest stop, and gives food to a homeless woman who runs away after he suggests to have sex with her. An unknown figure slits Mateo’s throat. Nearby a priest named Vito is traveling to his family home, and sees EO tied to a pole, as the police investigate Mateo’s murder. Vito takes EO with him.