CHUD LIST: BAD FOR US, WORSE FOR THEM - DAY 19

I don't believe it is too much of a stretch to label Au Hasard, Balthazar as one of the greatest films of all time, and the death that ends it one of the most profound. Shot in black and white in France and released in 1966, Balthazar is a troubling, moving, and powerful film from Robert Bresson that casts a harsh light on the iniquities of humanity. It is often said you can judge a man by how he treats his inferiors, and Au Hasard, Balthasar judges all of humanity by how it treats a simple, but sympathetic creature- a donkey.

Au Hasard, Balthazar is quite simply the story of the birth, life, and death of a beast of burden. There is an easily read allegorical Christ story at play here, though that is only one basic layer of an incredibly rich film. There is a great deal of commentary going on, and Bresson makes his frustrations with modernity (in the form of radios, tractors, and cars) and bureaucracy (forms, paperworks, wills, summons) quite clear. One may also read the film with Balthazar's fluctuating value in mind. The film is a series of trades and passages of ownership of the creature, who is used until the very end. Finally, the film is worthy of extensive examination for it's advanced techniques of filmmaking craft- the sound design is used with precision uncommon to the era, Bresson's constant Kubricking of the actors into neutrality creates an emotional void that gives the viewer no easy answers, and the Kuleshovic cutting and camera work tells a powerful story with few words. Of course, this isn't entirely Balthazar's show. The donkey's story is paralleled by that of Marie, a simple farm girl who suffers and invites suffering through her relationship with a local smuggler Gerard.

Gerard is only one of many who will abuse the creature, though it is Gerard's theft of Balthazar, when the donkey has grown old and returned to his original home, that leads to his demise. Literally weighted with the sin of man (Gerard's goods to be smuggled), Balthazar is led onto a hill where the smugglers are discovered and dispersed by gunfire. Balthazar is startled and hides in the woods, though the next morning we discover him shot in the side (presented as stigmata). Finally reaching the end of his long struggle with life, Balthazar lies amongst a flock of sheep and passes away.

One can certainly read this story and this ending as one of grace in the face of sin, or as a bittersweet metaphor for the passion of Jesus Christ, but to do so is to turn a decidedly blind eye to the cynicism that Bresson hides in plain site. Most obvious is the constant abuse that Balthazar endures, but there is much more pessimism to be found. When Marie's father passes away from grief, a priest impotently tries to comfort him, and the sick man turns his back to the empty words about God's compassion- statements that run contrary to everything we've witnessed. Most troubling though, is how Bresson ends the film. Most seem to focus on the image of Balthazar dying amongst the flock, with an adorable lamb nursing nearby.


This is undoubtedly a touching image, and one that is sure to bring tears to any invested viewer, but it is not the final image of the film. Instead, Bresson leaves us with a far less graceful or angelic image, one of Balthazar lying prostrate on his side, alone. The subtle shift in composition and removal of the other animals turns a dubitably sweet image into something much sadder, and much less hopeful.