S4E44.5: Au Hasard Balthazar

this reminds me so much of black beauty i wonder if its a rip off or return to the theme .

Hearing donkey girl and spending the next 10 minutes realizing that I check way to many of those boxes. 10/10 film and episode.

I know a guy who used to be in the Navy who did the fake bugle thing it is absolutely 100% real I was so stoked to hear it mentioned here hahaha

"Balthazar, distract Ultron!," "HONK, he HONK, he HONK."

I mean, in the early 2000s, rural kids did be throwing their compatriots off railway bridges&the like, so think this film correctly apprehends how disgustingly awful people can be.

incredible commitment to the donkey girl bit, you could have tried to create catgirls or puppygirls by asking for Mews or Awoos respectively, instead you're asking for us to send you voicenotes of the loudest ugliest brays imaginable I would do this but it would cause me voice dysphoria on levels unimaginable to the mortal mind

Big fan of the evil hammer they use to euthanize horses

If donkeys are trucks then surely a van is a truck and that gives an opportunity to do the (admittedly somewhat dated) Australian queer classic: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I heard a neurologist (on some radio program on a road trip as a child so I can't remember it verbatim) say "if the human brain were simple enough to understand, we wouldn't be able to understand it" and that stuck with me as an Aristotelian "accept the limits of your knowledge" kind of deal.

I am ashamed at how long it took me to realize the thumbnail was from Shrek.

i would argue that in fact trucks are donkeys, not the other way around. it's been donkey season all this time.

Listening to this one in the quiet hours at work, I hope i don't wind up crying about a donkey to clients. Wish me luck.

Lord, thank you for giving us another episode with Nova reading poetry

I once had a moment like Marie and the garlanded Balthazar, in the New Forest - I was firmly on my Titania shit, this Donkey seemed to really adore me and I was feeling this connection with nature, and then my fucking hyena friends come along hooting and hollering with snide remarks just like the tunnel snakes because the damned thing had grown a fifth leg

I'm gonna go pet my cat now, and feed her some treats.

I wish I knew how the actual donkey was treated on set. like did they beat it for real?

"Distract Ultron" had me laughing so hard I ran a red light.

Reveille=wake up Taps=funeral

that Doolittle line is Sor Juana: hombres necios que acusais a la mujer sin razon sin ver que sois la Occasion de lo mismo que culpais... Combatís su resistencia y luego, con gravedad, decís que fue liviandad lo que hizo la diligencia.

Lost it at Novas cis in the attic joke

... no you do not transform the donkey with holy water. you give it the roses off Isis's Carnavalis. *shakes head* Christians tsk tsk Jokes aside... this is just a less fucky sassy Golden Ass. Which like... all the scenes are Vignettes from Apuleius. Heck Donk'd Lei was a gentle lover for size queens... as to the Braying: in antiquity it was held to terrify demons, represented in the Trigraph AIŌ, also the sound of the rearing snake. egyptians associated the donkey with Sutkeh by its terrifying indecent cock, and its indecorous laugh oh I thought the Oil was for dust as I learned from Nova. on Donkeys in Antiquity the Ass was the mount of kings in Peacetime; it is THAT near-eastern Regal association that leads to Palm Sunday. their bray could Summon djin, they were enemies of serpents and another form of dragon

There's definitely a Christ metaphor to be had here in some degree. Donkeys are beasts of burden, they take our loads and abuse, they are lowly, wreched animals, and for much of human history, civilization was carried on their backs. Comparing Jesus to a donkey is a pretty apt metaphor, as the one who takes the sins and suffering of humanity upon himself for our sake. Balthazar throughout the whole movie constantly takes the suffering man creates upon himself, but doesn't necessarily make anything better. He's just a silent sin-eater, constantly present for the doings of mankind, but never interfering. I think comparing this movie to Silence is fitting, as the silence of God and his seeming lack of intervention definitely challenges faith in the existence or worth of such a God. But could it also be that mankind, in the creation of its own sin and suffering, continually refuses to acknowledge the presence of God? Again and again, the characters of this movie turn away from making the right decisions, acting on pride, cruelty, or ignorance. And all the while Balthazar is there, neutral, generally friendly. Maybe the reason that God doesn't seem present is because we refuse to recognize Him, but if we do, we can receive happiness and help from Him.

I work at a cemetery, the fake bugle thing is not only absolutely true, but some of my coworkers have seen it run out of power halfway through playing

The entire tunnel snakes gang found dead in a ditch with suspiciously hoof shaped dents in their skulls.

Holy fucking shit Devon, great pick.

Religion Season continues?

"I watched a Serbian film..' Sharp intake of breath. "... about a guy and his truck..." Relaxed exhale.

started listening but i think i'll skip this one. Sounds like a bit too much donkey misery for my liking.

That line at the end from Imago Dei reminds me my favorite passage from the Discordian Bible: "Sacred Eris! The world is filled with strife and hatred!" "And what is the matter with that, if it is what you want?" "But nobody wants it! Everyone hates it." "...oh. Well then, stop."

Alien, hell yes. Sad donkey to Alien, KJB contains multitudes

I’m 20 minutes in, excited for Abigail to use her ‘Awww’ voice for no less than 80% of the episode (not sarcasm, it’s nice to listen to)

Unexpected Con O'Neill mention!

Let me tell you, Black Beauty would be a pretty good companion to this. Is a horse a truck? Is a carriage a truck? Do I want Alan Cumming to narrate my life in a gentle Scottish tone? We'll never know

"If any of you are donkeys please write in", if any of you are mules please stop writing in, we are sick of hearing from you

Well, there’s worse fates for donkeys in film. Could’ve been one of the ones they exploded in Rambo 3.

Donkeys are fertile. A mule is the cross of a donkey and a horse which is almost always infertile. Y'all need a farm consultant, someone who understands that there are good reasons to jerkoff a small equine and use the results to fertilize a large equine because you need a mid-sized equine with good cargo carrying capabilities.

On the crimes level, Hudson Hawk staring an insane Bruce Willis robbing the Vatican while singing Sinatra. Orrrr if you want to demolish a transphobe a Fish called Wanda does also contain Jamie Lee Curtis serving just pure cunt

Because I took film classes in college but didnt follow up by becoming a film guy and then kinda stopped watching movies, I have somehow contrived to not see almost any of the Kill James Bond movies *except* Au Hasard Balthazar

Road games with Jamie lee Curtis, check it out!

Well just had my prog and my estrogen upped and are the most emotional human being ever hope nothing bad happens to this donkey

Taking this chance to advocate for the complete opposite of an art film, City Slickers - Billy Crystal set out to make cowboy slapstick and ended up with a well-acted character study on masculinity, fatherhood, and midlife crises...and so much love for a cow.

Listening to this at work feeling like a dog locked in a hot car. Shout out to anybody else living la vida sous vide today. Are donkeys trucks? We're all trucks.

Donkeigh

10/10 thumbnail