🎬 Cows on the Roof (Aldo Gugolz, 2020)

Aldo Gugolz | 2020 | Switzerland | 82’ | EN subtitles

All true crime stories start with a mysterious body emerging and follow up with the inevitable investigation. Your average Netflix movie would approach the subject with exploitative sensationalism and would use the victim’s suffering as an excuse for your throwaway background entertainment while you’re consuming your TV-dinner. Swiss farmer docu-drama Cows on the Roof isn’t your average Netflix filler, so it takes a different approach to the story without ignoring the original mystery element.

Instead, it chooses to use the Macedonian season worker’s death as an excuse to look behind the scenes of what is happening at a farm in Switzerland. How come an undocumented poor Balkan immigrant died in one the world’s wealthiest countries during his seasonal job? Is Fabiano, the Swiss hippie farm owner, to blame, or is he a victim of capitalism since he is also struggling to make ends meet by selling his quality handmade cheese under manufacturing price in the nearby town? What circumstances turn someone into a hippie farmer in a banker's country to begin with?

Cows on the Roof might not spoonfeed these answers to you, but it gracefully allows you to look behind the curtains, invites you to explore the harsh realities of farming and asks you questions about its sustainability, all without ignoring the whodunit aspect.