Thanks to Revelation Film Festival’s online version of their annual film festival, Couched, which ran this year in July, they included a Black Lives Matter section that included two films by Black American filmmaker Charles Burnett. Killer Of Sheep (1977), Burnett’s thesis film at UCLA, was something I’d long wanted to see due to its critical reputation, a lost classic of Black cinematic expression (the print was restored in 2007). The film was slightly different to what I expected, with a short running time at 80 minutes and alongside its neo-realistic style, it was also impressionistic and not interested in narrative plot. Like a documentary, Killer Of Sheep is observational and unhurried in its camerawork. Set in the Watts area, we move between scenes of kids playing – in dirt-pits, train tracks, rooftops – and one family, the father (Henry G. Sanders) working in a slaughterhouse, either tired and despondent particular with his wife, or travelling around with a buddy on the look out for a new motor. Shot in black and white, the imagery feels of the past and captures a time and a place, but like any black and white production in a time when colour footage was available, it also creates almost a space outside of time, complimented by the older songs on the soundtrack (Dinah Washington’s ‘This Bitter Earth’ in a key scene). Moments of humour mixed with resigned sadness, it leaves things open for interpretation, unconcerned with fitting the life it is capturing with character arcs or storylines or even a conventional ending that wraps things up. Very influential with its use of location shooting and low budget independence to depict Black life in America, capturing things as they are, yet also investing in its imagery and tone with artistry. Recommended.
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