I completely agree with the above writer. The disjointed nature of the film made it impossible to follow any thread, and anything I was interested in was cut short. For instance, when the calf was born and the mother was licking it - endlessly - did it survive? Why did the dogs fight? I'm afraid I too thought all the longueurs were pretentious, and my neighbour looked at her watch four times! I feel that, although it was made with the best of intentions, there was a strong element of the Emperor's New Clothes about this film. If it was about the demise of a village, it was not made clear why the school closing meant everything else had to go. For me it didn't make a story.