Brotherly bonds

Anyone who thinks our iconic Southern man is not much of a talker should take a gander at Rams (Rialto), a tragic story of man's devotion to sheep breeding.

 

RAMS

Director: Grimur Hakonarson
Cast: Sigurdur Sigurjonsson, Theodor Juliusson
Rating: (M)
Four stars (out of five)

 

As we have our hill country, Iceland has its valleys and in one remote valley two brothers live side by side engaged in the eternal quest to improve their ancestral sheep lineage, but just because a man is your brother and you are in exactly the same line of work does not mean that you have to get along.

Gummi (Sigurdur Sigurjonsson) is a gentle soul who likes the quiet life, while his brother Kiddi (Theodor Juliusson) likes to drink and mouth off.

They are oil and water and have not spoken in 40 years. Instead they grunt and pass notes via Kiddi's cheerful sheepdog.

Everyone in the valley knows them and their strange arrangement but they are respected as fine sheep breeders whose herds are among the best.

As a Kiwi, I naturally did a quick calculation on their stocking numbers and wondered how this boutique form of sheep farming is economically viable.

The film quickly lets us know it is not.

The disease scrapie is discovered in the valley and the authorities decide that all of the carefully tended heritage bloodline sheep must be killed and no sheep are to enter the valley for two years.

Gummi stoically complies but Kiddi broods and gets drunk.

Everything everyone has been working for is gone, but maybe Gummi has found a way to defy the ban.

All he needs is a little help from Kiddi.

- Christien Powley 

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