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The Goat Horn Movie Review

The Goat Horn is a 1972 Bulgarian historical drama film directed by Metodi Andonov and starring Anton Gorchev and Katya Paskaleva. It’s a terrific movie.

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“There is no place for a woman in this world“

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XVII century, Bulgaria is under Ottoman rule. Four men break into the house of the shepherd Karaivan, raping and killing his wife in full view of their child, Maria. To protect his daughter and to enact revenge, he raises Maria as a son, teaching her to fight and kill. But as Maria grows up, she longs for a different life.

Apparently, this is a treasure of Bulgarian cinema, the one movie that is universally beloved and thought of as the best among most Bulgarians. Upon seeing it, I understand that sentiment entirely as this is such a gem of Eastern European Cinema that needs much more love and attention than it has gotten so far in the West.

Being a period piece, the Ottomans are of course the villains and they are particularly brutal and disgusting here. The movie painfully realistically showcases the primitive nature of the Balkans nations during this period and in particular how harsh living in the hills must have been.

The movie acts as a classic revenge tale while also being a strong exploration of gender norms as the father basically tries to make a man out of his daughter in order for her to survive, but she becomes conflicted when she falls in love and regains her femininity. Thus, the movie is the perfect example of a simple storyline that still has timeless themes in it that are very well explored and I adore that mixture.

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Katya Paskaleva is fantastic as Maria and I also really liked the child actress at the beginning of the movie. Maria’s journey is emotional, powerful and very well written. The same goes for Karaivan whose pain you can just feel in every single scene and his resolve to save his daughter is so strong. Anton Gorchev is absolutely fantastic in this great role and both manage to give amazing, basically silent performances with amazing emotiveness in their faces.

I personally preferred the first half of the movie as some of the scenes in the second half weren’t as interesting and some pacing issues were present as the film lagged in this section. But the beginning and ending are instantly memorable and I also liked the fighting sequences and the more intimate moments with the character work being so good despite the scarce dialogue.

The Goat Horn has so little dialogue that it felt like a genuine silent picture, which I personally loved the most about it. This kind of approach perfectly complemented its naturalistic storytelling approach, leading to what is one very artistic and cinematic experience.

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The action, especially some of the fights, should have been better executed, but the direction from Metodi Andonov is masterful how confident and professional it is. The acting is strong across the board and the editing is also very good. The cinematography is wonderful. It’s the kind of polished black-and-white aesthetic that is both artistic and pleasing to the eye. The film makes superb use of its mountain setting with a lot of striking imagery at display. It is a great case of minimalism that still impressively manages to make you feel and care for its characters.