Charles Burnett’s independent drama 'Killer of Sheep' shows that sometimes less is more.
Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep is a criminally under-seen piece of independent American cinema that spent the majority of its life completely inaccessible to moviegoers. Killer of Sheep has unfortunately suffered a fate similar to other overlooked independent films like Hala, Knives and Skin, or Luce. And yet, it’s a film whose reputation precedes it, with its accolades piling up taller than any picture with its decades-long unavailability could possibly expect.
Somewhere near the middle of Killer of Sheep, two of Stan’s acquaintances approach him for help with a revenge killing that would help earn him some cash. Many films would use this beat as an opportunity to progress the plot or steer it in a different direction, but Killer of Sheep resists. It’s a plot point that doesn’t return. This isn’t that type of movie.
It’s clear that his inability to escape the class struggle gets to him. He struggles to connect emotionally to his wife. She asks him why he never smiles anymore, and he doesn’t seem to have a good answer to her. Yet, as devoted as Killer of Sheep is to its portrayal of an aimless struggle is, it isn’t cynical enough to refrain from portraying moments of joy. Towards the end of the film is a scene in which Stan and his wife dance slowly and passionately to Dinah Washington’s “This Bitter Earth”.
Killer of Sheep is a film that’s likely to have a lasting influence for years to come. David Gordon Green took much inspiration for his debut George Washington. Hip-hop artist Mos Def used a tinted still from the roof-jumping sequence for his 2009 album “The Ecstatic”. Beyond its influence, though, Killer of Sheep is a work that shows the magnificent potential of what a film can be. Like the greatest artworks, what any bit of it symbolizes is up for interpretation.
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