Rams

I run a small cheese and yogurt making facility serving the dairy sheep farming community of upstate NY. We pasture our dairy shepherds' dry flocks on our farm. Communities like this are quite interconnected as depicted in the movie Rams.

The diseases bugs and parasites are no joke. In dry dry WA they didn't mention what happens when their feet are perpetually wet outdoors. And even in a good year, there's quite a lot of heartbreak because not all the lambs make it.

You can start to feel beset from all sides: the elements, contagious disease, other people, the government, and you yourself chief among them. You have your whole life invested in a way of life. All of these elements were pretty realistically portrayed in this movie.

Given the topic, I did not expect it to be a laugh riot, but the setting, the writing and the acting brought a gentle and refreshing perspective on what can seem like a slog when you are in the thick of it yourself.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. It appears to be an almost exact remake of a 2015 Icelandic movie of the same name, but this one is set in Western Australia.

Two brothers in their 70s live adjacent to each other. Their homes are about a pitching wedge distance apart. But they never speak to each other, it has been that way for over 40 years. They never really explain why but it is hinted the older brother is angry that the deceased dad gave all the property to the younger brother who allows the older to remain living and working there.

The brothers raise prized rams that carry an ancient lineage and in yearly contests the ram of one or the other always wins first place. Tragedy strikes when it is discovered that a disease is infecting the sheep and all animals are ordered destroyed. But one brother has an idea to bypass the system when he believes his rams are not infected.

We enjoyed the movie mainly for the actors. If this had been "based on real events" it might have been more interesting. But overall, while it is entertaining most of the time, there is not particular substantial message here. It is a low risk movie to watch on a Saturday evening after dinner.

I might wonder why I would choose to rent this movie. Well, partly because I had Amazon credits to use, but mostly because the available selection was rather pathetic. Plain bad movies. Or movies for which they wanted $20 to rent since you couldn't go see them in a theater.

Not only was Rams a wonderful movie in every respect, it was touching, entertaining, and without the boilerplate plot that we are forced to become accustomed to.

When I started watching I did not realise it was a remake of the Icelandic film I had seen a few years ago.

For the most part it worked, but it wasn't as humorous as I had expected it to be.

As ever Sam Neill is eminently watchable. Normally the same can be said of Michael Caton but his character for the most part was so obnoxious it was difficult to come to terms with.

Nice nod to Steve Marriott and Humble Pie, not only in the sound track but also the tee shirt!

Seen the movie with the whole family 7 - 75, we all loved it, something in there for everyone with that uniquely Australian touch.