Film No. 67 (2020) November 1st. 10:15 AM EVENT CINEMAS V-Max Cinema 16, Innaloo.
"If they're going to take the whole valley, then why don't they just take us too, and finish the job?" (Les Grimersun airs his views before he and brother Colin's farms are quarantined).
Director Jeremy Sims (Last Cab to Darwin) has a wonderful feel for regional Australia and captures uncomplicated people solving complicated matters, using companionate means and gentle humour. This time he's duplicated the Icelandic classic Hrutar(Rams) transferring the tale to the Central Great Southern of Western Australia. It's not quite as tight as the original but it's still very good.
Put simply, the plot has brothers Grimersen, Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton); as next door neighbours but on non-speaking terms (40 years) as annual prize ram producers. One or other wins the prize each year in no particular order, so what happens when a major spanner is thrown into the silent gulf which separates these testy (Colin less so) rusted on individuals?
Our story is quite obviously all about the drama which reunites the boys. The reference to the word boys is unavoidable considering the juvenile manner in which they treat one another. One of Les's rams contracts a highly contagious disease which infects the valley. Colin has a plan which isn't very ethical in real terms but suits this narrative to conveniently move towards a heart-felt ending.
The idea of contrasting the original, stark, cold landscape of Iceland with a more temperate, but still challenging Australian pastureland is a masterstroke. They are different, but the same. Hrutar is darker and more atmospheric, Rams is lighter and takes a more trivial view of its serious (animal viral pandemic) subject matter. It's a risk; Sims pulls it off. Neill, Caton and a cute collie ride the back of a few well behaved sheep. 9GUMS.
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