Killer of Sheep

Saw Killer of Sheep, a film about poverty in black neighborhoods. Made in the 70s, the imagery is a bit dated, but the humanity on display feels timeless. There's a fare dose of poverty porn here, as we focus on the wretchedness of the neighbors, but that's not all because of course people in poor communities don't just spend their time being sad and miserable. They celebrate and laugh and get angry too. There's a scene where the neighborhood boys are scuffling in a play-fight. One of them stays on the ground holding his eyes. The fight stops as the boys investigate their injured friend. At last a small cut is revealed over the boy's eye. "Aw, that don't even hurt!" they shout and the fight goes on. The scene shows the boys being tender and brutish, brusque and gentle, all at once. This is a good distillation of the entire film.

The protagonist is Stan who works in a slaughterhouse, killing sheep. (The slaughter of the sheep is fairly graphic, closing up on boiled heads and such, so fair warning to the squeamish.) He's unsatisfied with his life and unhappy at work. His depression leads to him neglecting his wife who is still a pretty and lovely woman. He's also surrounded by temptations for an easy buck as slouching "friends" circle, looking for a man who wouldn't mind doing a little killing. Back in the slaughterhouse, we see the sheep entering a pen, seduced by the nonchalance of the Judas goats.

Stan's life and story are pretty grim, but of course life in the slums is pretty grim. All that surrounds Stan however, is life and struggle and joy. It's shot almost from a child's-eye view, mostly focusing on the absurd pretend of the children. this leads to an abrupt, almost absurd feel. A street-fight ends abruptly with a cut to an enormously fat woman, a little girl in her Sunday finest picks through a pile of rags on the street. The point of the film is to humanize these people. They are not saints and they are not demons. They joke with their children and steal each other's televisions and are all human after all. A melancholy but warm film.