Killer of Sheep Movie Review

Killer of Sheep (1978)

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Written by: Charles Burnett
Directed by: Charles Burnett
Starring: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett
Rated: NR [R]
Watch the trailer

Plot
Set in the Watts area of Los Angeles during the early 1970s, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.

Verdict
This is a student film which makes it all the more impressive. This doesn't have an overarching narrative, but it captures what life is like in Watts. It's a time capsule, and all of these unrelated plights create the fabric of the area as it provides a sense of what it's like to reside there. The movie exhibits a lot of poise for a first time director. It's executed well, but I do wish there was more of a plot, granted that's not the point.
It depends.

Review
Burnett shot the film on weekends during 1972 and 1973. He submitted it to UCLA as his Master of Fine Arts thesis. It didn't get a wide release until 2007, nearly thirty years later.

This opens with a father aggressively telling his son to grow up and that life is difficult. Then we see a group of kids playing at the train yard. It's not a typical story arc. It depicts life in the neighborhood; the monotony of the day to day and the scrapping. Stan (Henry G. Sanders) works at the slaughterhouse. It's a job, and it puts food on the table. In a similar way, kids find a way to fill their days. I have to wonder if the bleakness of Stan's job, herding and killing sheep, is a mirror to his life. Does he feel the same lack of agency as he follows a prescribed path?

Henry G. Sanders plays Stan

It's a time capsule, and that's also what makes it captivating. The depictions of life in the time period feel authentic, like a fly on the wall perspective. This is a collection of moments in the lives of the inhabitants. It's really not all that long ago, coming on the heels of the fight for civil rights. It's fascinating to see life in a past time. That's similar to what Man with a Movie Camera (1929) captured.

Henry G. Sanders plays Stan

It's impressive as a student film and as an artist's first movie. It's not typical, more of a film buff and history movie. There's no plot or narrative. We experience the era by living it with the characters.