Calf

Human young are what is known as altricial – not just small but underdeveloped, needing years of care before they’re ready to survive on their own. Calves, on the other hand, are precocial. They need to be able to stand on their first day of life, to move with the herd, to avoid predators. Like other mammals, though, they remain close to their mothers.

There’s a calf on the way at the farm, so when her husband doesn’t appear for breakfast, Aine (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh) thinks nothing of it. She sends her daughter Cáit (Isabelle Connolly) out to fetch him, and that’s when Cáit discovers what viewers might already have guessed when they saw a tractor slip lose from its handbrake the night before. Michael (Stephen Hogan) is trapped there, his body pierced by a metal rod, his face contorted in agony. He’s lost a lot of blood. Cáit stands there frozen, looking at him. It’s an immense thing for any teenager to have to deal with. What she does next, however, recontextualises everything.

Qualified for the coming Oscar race, Jamie O’Rourke’s potent short is a hard-hitting portrait of Irish rural life. It depicts a world in which everybody has a place, with clear duties and responsibilities, and there’s little time for childhood innocence. Cáit is already used to looking after her little brother, Sean (Isaac Fitzgerald), the only character here who is at all sheltered. Soon neighbour women are gathering in the kitchen, one agreeing to look after him for the day. For a little while, at least, the extremity of the situation will be kept secret from him, and one wonders what else has been.

The pace of life on a farm is slow, and despite the urgency of this particular situation, O’Rourke recognises that in his direction, allowing viewers time to take in the landscape that dominates the routines of the characters. The slow movement of the tractor at night and Cáit’s slow approach to it in the morning also allow time for tension to build. It’s easy to feel helpless in the face of such things, and yet Cáit acts with assurance and practicality of one born to inhabit this place. She still has the slenderness and gait of youth, but there’s a toughness about her that will not give way. As the world comes hurtling into focus, she’s ready for it.