Directors: Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Producers: Ilisa Barbash
Starring:
MPAA Rating: NR
Running time: 101 min.

(3/5)

In 2001, two filmmakers headed north to the vastness of Montana to shoot the last of the shepherd’s drive into the Absaroka‐Beartooth Mountains fir summer pasture of their flock. They ended up staying on for a few years helping out with the tasks as well filming. Sweetgrass is one of nine films (the only one intended for distribution) produced with all of the footage that was shot.

With none of the typical voice over narration or talking heads usage that would be “required” of most film such as this, the film takes a bold approach of just letting the viewer observe what is going on. They can bathe in the majesty of what they’re looking at or simply fold up and shake their heads at the monotony of it all. I myself found that I was doing a little bit of both.
 

A huge fan of westerns, but not much of an aficionado on documentaries, what drew me most heavily to this picture was the look of the cinematography. The marketing trailer looks gorgeous. I don’t know if I simply saw a rougher cut of the film or simply a worn print, but the look of the print was pretty bad. The colors and lighting and shots that were being attempted were glorious, but the film stock jagged and blurry. It looked as though it was shot on a VHS camcorder – and not in the cool way that Michael Mann stylizes, but rather in a way that I felt I was missing out on something. Still, there are some excellently amazing shots of the mountains and the flock as it negotiates its way through the passes and canyons; guided by the always fun to watch sheep dogs and shepherds.

The lack of narration is a bold and frankly welcome departure from the norm. On the other hand, unless you are willing to sit down and do some research as to what you’re seeing, the sink or swim mentality that the director thrusts us into might be a little bewildering. Where are these people going with their sheep? Why are they going and how far of a distance? The answer to those questions are never really answered within the film (again, unless you check out some of the promotional items). I think there should’ve been at least some explanation as to what we’re seeing here.

The movie works tremendously in fits in starts. I like the idea of the director showing us exactly what this particular brand of American life entails. Some of it is harrowing like the fending off of hungry bears, other bits (most of the time) are simply sitting around and smoking a cigarette or trying to put together a tent or camping stove. But even the so-called harrowing bits aren’t all that exciting. There’s very little sense of danger or intrigue. Not that there has to be, but for over 100 minutes to watch a guy riding his horse and repeating over and over and over and over again to “watch your step”, gets a little tiresome.

There’s not much time spent on conversing within the film. When it is there it’s usually short sentences or quiet quips; yet we somehow manage to get to know the lead shepherds, particularly the aging John, who’s face, though nearly expressionless, tells a thousand stories. The younger shepherd seems to get frustrated a lot and ornery when things don’t go exacting or when he feels he could be doing something else better with his time.

All in all it’s some bold filmmaking that deserves the lavish praise it seems to be getting. A look at the twilight of the American frontier and those that use it to make a living despite society evermore rapidly shying away from that sort of lifestyle is interesting subject matter. The vistas are something to behold and there is certainly some nice camera technique throughout the picture. Unfortunately I wish the filmmakers had had a little bit more to work with in the budgetary department as the movie itself looks a bit shoddy. Repetitive and fairly uneventful, yes. But so is the way of the American shepherd and to gloss over that realism with trickery or clever editing would be disingenuous.