User Reviews

Bulgaria under Ottoman rule. A group of four Turks attack a woman shepherd, brutally raping and killing her. Her widow vows revenge, and brings up the surviving daughter, Maria, like a man, teaching her the use of weapons and personal defense, and preparing for the day the killers will pay for their deed. Nine years later, Maria has become a beautiful, if quite savage and unpolished, woman. She and their brutish father go after the killers of her mother one by one, leaving a goat's horn behind their bodies. But before the duo can kill all the murderers, she falls in love with a handsome shepherd living near their house. The father can not accept this relationship, and the consequences will be terrible for all. Shot in black and white, and with very little dialogue, this revenge drama is a brutal, primeval masterpiece that ought to better known. While there is surely a nationalist undertone (Bulgarians should fight against the oppression of the Turks is a prominent message), this is a great film of its own.

'Kozijat rog' is a brutal and gripping revenge drama from Bulgaria. Based upon Nikolay Haitov's short story 'The Goat Horn', the film is set in the 17th or 18th Century when Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire. The opening credits warn that the movie starts with an eruption of violence and so it does. A shepherd's wife is raped and murdered by a gang of four intruders in front of their little daughter, Maria. Raising her as a boy and training her to kill in cold blood, the shepherd plots to avenge his wife's horrific death.

As his daughter blossoms into womanhood, thoughts of violence gradually leave her being as she yearns that her scarred heart may experience the gentleness and compassion of love. Maria's awakening and romance with a young shepherd displays a gentleness that is at odds with her father's destructive quest for revenge.

Director Metodi Andonov sets the scene in a disrupted landscape of spartan pastoral simplicity that at first seems somewhat off-putting in its sheer rawness. The fact that he and his team managed to weave a narrative from this simplicity that builds and builds to such an involving level of lyrical potency says wonders for them as film-makers.

The second half of 'Kozijat rog' contains some of the most riveting tragedic cinema I have ever seen. The performances of Katya Paskaleva and Anton Gorchev are mesmerising in their slow-burning level of intensity. This one is a haunting masterpiece that drew me in more and more with every passing minute and, ultimately, left me astounded as to its simple yet heart-breaking power. It is a movie that, I think, compares very favourably with Bergman's memorable 'Jungfrukallen' from 1960, and that is high praise indeed. This is a draining and moving gem to watch and a film whose primeval imagery sticks in one's mind.

Everything starts with a violent act on a family. A little girl is forced to watch 4 pigs raping and murdering it's mother. From then on the girl is raised as a boy from her caring father with the thought of protecting her, but also plotting a revenge. Years go on, Maria is now a young woman, the revenge is in full force. Meanwhile Maria meets a man and falls in love with him, her gentle and womanly nature could not be stopped by her father. Multiple times she fails to kill one of the rapists because she watches in amusement a love between two young souls. After multiple disputes with her father she finally goes and kills the last rapiat in cold blood just so she knows this revenge story is finally over and she could finally give everything to the man she loves. Unfortunately her father wouldn't understand and after she sees Maria with the man, he kills him in his sleep after she goes home. On the next day she goes to the man's house and sees him killed. She sees the goat horn and understands it was her father. She burns the house and walks in it to die together with her beloved one. The father sees it but it's too late, he manages to get her out but she's already dead.

I am torn on this one. It's obviously tragic and obviously a masterpiece. I would put it right next to Citizen Kane in a list of the greatest movies ever, I think it's that good. But should I forgive Kara Ivan? In his way of protecting, he killed his daughter. So many tropes in this one. Slavery, revenge, inequality. I choose to remember this one for the undying, beautiful and gentle woman nature that can endure the toughest of times and put on the greatest of fights. Mesmerising movie! Undoubtedly one of the best, not just Bulgarian, but in the whole world. Watch it!