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{"id":76041,"date":"2008-01-06T16:41:16","date_gmt":"2008-01-06T23:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lookingcloser.org\/?p=76041"},"modified":"2013-04-11T12:40:19","modified_gmt":"2013-04-11T18:40:19","slug":"killer-of-sheep-1977-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2008\/01\/killer-of-sheep-1977-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"Killer of Sheep (1977, 2007)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>Filmed in 1977 as a thesis project on a budget of about $10,000, Charles Burnett\u2019s award-winning Killer of Sheep<\/em> won an award in Berlin in 1981, and was among the first 50 films entered in the Library of Congress\u2019 National Film Registry. The National Society of Film Critics named it one of 100 \u201cessential films.\u201d And Andrew O\u2019Hehir at Salon.com calls Burnett \u201cthe most important African-American director\u201d and \u201cone of the most distinctive filmmakers this country has ever produced.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this movie was almost impossible for American film enthusiasts to see until IFC restored it for a DVD release in 2007.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still amazing.<\/p>\n

Filmed in black and white, it carries on a meditative tour of the Watts neighborhood in 1977, an L.A. ghetto where many barely have enough resources to feed themselves. Every day presents them with opportunities to compromise in order to get by. It\u2019s a battlefield of temptations and dangers. And the noblest fellow in the neighborhood \u2014 Stan, a slaughterhouse worker \u2014 is becoming despondent, feeling powerless to change his predicament. He and his neighbors have a common challenge \u2014 seemingly inescapable poverty, the pain of which is enhanced by a constant awareness of America\u2019s promises.<\/p>\n

Burnett\u2019s meditative style does not draw attention to itself. With his patient gaze, he seems fascinated by children in rowdy play, teenagers caught between confusing societal pressures, and adults who either struggle to live with dignity in their poverty, or who give in to the attraction of crime. The camera\u2019s way of drifting down alleys, through walls, and into characters\u2019 private moments recalls Wim Wenders\u2019 Wings of Desire<\/em>. But there don\u2019t seem to be any benevolent angels in sight.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also to Burnett\u2019s credit that he is able to observe problems of class and race without narrowing his vision to become an \u201cissues movie\u201d or a sermon. His characters have been dealt a bad hand, but some of them are making hard times worse. Despite Burnett\u2019s marvelous eye for the specifics of a time and a place, his subject is nothing less than the human condition, and his mode is closer to epic poetry than documentary or drama. While the acting is sometimes amateurish \u2014 Burnett was working with the resources at hand, rather than drawing from a host of accomplished actors \u2014 these weaker moments are forgivable in view of extraordinary scenes involving children, and images that are as detailed and deep as those you\u2019ll find in the works of masters like Ozu or Tarkovsky.<\/p>\n

[Update: This film was selected for The Arts and Faith Top 100 Films List in 2010.<\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"