Spanning more than sixty years of bitter rivalry between two Basque families, Julio Medem’s directorial debut immediately set itself apart from that staple of Spanish cinema, the epic historical melodrama. Full of visual flamboyance and employing a rapid, elliptical style, Cows explores issues of national and cultural identity as it sardonically draws attention to its own recycling of stereotypes. Throughout it all—as the feuding families repeat the same mistakes across three generations—are the "vacas," the cows of the title, whose immutable presence bears silent witness to the passage of time and the succession of events.