In the summer of 2003, a group of shepherds took a herd of sheep one final time through the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, in the extreme north-west of the United States. It was a journey ...
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In the summer of 2003, a group of shepherds took a herd of sheep one final time through the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, in the extreme north-west of the United States. It was a journey of almost three hundred kilometres through expansive green valleys, by fields of snow, and across hazardous, narrow ridges - a journey brimming with challenges. The aging shepherds do their very best to keep the hundreds of sheep together; the panoramic high mountains are teeming with hungry wolves and grizzly bears.Written by
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
In the end credits, the very last entry reads "In Memoriam The Raisland - Allestad Ranch Wild Cat Creek, Sweetgrass County, Montana 1900 - 2004" See more »
This is like slipping into a pastoral dream. The wind. The constant braying of sheep. The idle bits of conversation between the mostly stoic herders. The crack of guns at hungry bears in the middle of the night. That's all the soundtrack offers. These things bleed together and lay over one stunning image after another, meticulously documenting every stage of the caring for and herding of sheep. From birthing new ones to sheering to feeding and then, eventually, to herding a seaming ocean of the creatures across an epic, punishing mountain range. Through it all we witness the exchange between man and animal as horse, dog, bear, sheep and human play out a slow symbiotic struggle to be and do. In its execution and honesty it's literally on a par with the Maysles Grey Gardens. A true document, artfully done and completely free of artifice.
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This is like slipping into a pastoral dream. The wind. The constant braying of sheep. The idle bits of conversation between the mostly stoic herders. The crack of guns at hungry bears in the middle of the night. That's all the soundtrack offers. These things bleed together and lay over one stunning image after another, meticulously documenting every stage of the caring for and herding of sheep. From birthing new ones to sheering to feeding and then, eventually, to herding a seaming ocean of the creatures across an epic, punishing mountain range. Through it all we witness the exchange between man and animal as horse, dog, bear, sheep and human play out a slow symbiotic struggle to be and do. In its execution and honesty it's literally on a par with the Maysles Grey Gardens. A true document, artfully done and completely free of artifice.