Find the entire YouTube series here.

The natural world and man are so often at odds. The churning of the human machine doesn’t always allow for the biological, and the fury of nature will always keep man humble. So rarely are these forces kept in balance like they are in Guy on a Buffalo. Through the graceful musical chorus we bear witness to a legendary protagonist, the old-school strong, silent type, wandering through the forest alone. Like Jack Burton, Guy’s destiny is always over the next horizon.

We open with Guy riding his steadfast buffalo through the prairie. The land is fraught with danger as the man and his buffalo are pursued by bears and are shot at by the locals. He fights back, never losing his cool or sense of justice. Guy chases the bear into the woods on his buffalo, and knocks out the Native American who shot at him. Guy could have slayed this man but he showed restraint. Guy is a man with justice in his heart, who isn’t begotten to the whims of the frontier.

Yet, even though he is stoic and pure in his intentions, he is still subject to the violence of the natural world. We watch as the hunter becomes the hunted. As Guy lines up a shot on a deer, the music changes. [Trigger warning: cats] We hear a line that still sends chills up my spine, “He straight up got mauled by a cougar.” The beast launches itself through the air, landing on Guy with the intent to kill. Unlike the bear earlier, Guy’s buffalo is not there to save him. The battle rages on, drowned under the mighty score of what should assuredly win this film an Oscar.

This reminds us of the vulnerability of our hero, and helps our hearts to take what is coming.

Shortly after the battle with the cougar we see Guy find a baby in a bush. It’s a moment where he has options. He could leave the baby, or risk his life to save it. He saddles up the baby, fording rivers and riding long hard days to make sure this baby finds a family. In the end the baby ends up with a loving couple who were having trouble conceiving. Though we never know the circumstances of the baby’s mysterious bush upbringing, we know that Guy is once again a hero.

Guy on a Buffalo doesn’t hold with modern conventions. It isn’t until after the halfway point that we get to meet the villain and have the inciting incident. While one could argue that nature is the real opposing source in the beginning, we finally get to put a face to the evil.

We flashback. Years before the baby and the cougar, we see Guy riding a horse. When he happens upon a baby buffalo he initially takes it for food. In the end he decided it was too cute and ate his horse instead. A PETA spokesperson called this, “A dick move. If he is so bad ass why doesn’t he walk himself around the forest?”

Atop his mighty buffalo, Guy stops a fight between several frontiersman hunters. After the dispute is settled, a coward in a buffalo cloak shoots Guy in the belly. Guy flees desperately, bleeding his way into the woods where a kind hearted man and his wife take care of him. This is the couple he would eventually bring the baby to. After some hearty soup and dumplings the stomach wound is healed. But the scales of justice are not settled for this buffalo soldier, and it’s time to make his new enemies pay.

In a bright green meadow, he happens upon his first enemy. This is one of the greatest accomplishments in cinematic history, Guy rides the man down, letting the buffalo trample his enemy to death. The fear in his eyes as that beast stomped him into human paste will never be forgotten by the author.

At this point, Guy can return to his normal life of buffalo riding, or face his destiny. He marches into town, and after a hot tip he charges headlong into a bar. Guy takes aim, blasting his would-be murderers in the belly and in the head. Just for good measure he drops a stove on them as well. All the while, the music plays on.

At the beginning of all this, we spoke of the balance between nature and humanity, but this really is the story of a man finding balance in himself. He has the power to change lives for the better, to rescue people, and to ride his buffalo like a boss. He also has the power to murder those that have wronged him. Is he on the right side of justice? Does a belly shot warrant brutal killing? Only the great buffalo rider in the sky can truly say.

This short film is still available on YouTube, and might be the most important piece of cinema that you watch this year. Make sure to not skip this one.

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Tony Southcotte: Tony hails from the Rocky Mountains somewhere around the state of Colorado. Possibly raised by grizzly bears, he now spends most of his time grappling with Java updates and dysfunctional RAM.