Sweetgrass Review
By David Kempler
Falling Asleep to Sheep
Imagine if Billy Crystal and a bunch of city slickers were moving cattle across the wide open spaces of the west. Oops, I forgot, it's been done. Scratch that idea. How about if we do it in documentary form and turn the cattle into sheep? We'll even use real cowhands. Real sheep, too. Okay, I'm being flip, but while watching "Sweetgrass" I couldn't stop my mind from wandering to "City Slickers".
The setting is Sweet Grass County, Montana, and co-directors Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Illisa Barbash put us in the middle of the final time that sheep will be transported from low to high ground for summer grazing in the area. They spent years video-taping the locals and have attempted to present us with just how momentous this all is. While I'm sure it is of some import, I confess to having been fairly unimpressed by it all. Whether it is the subject matter, the execution, the horrendous sound quality that makes one guess what the men are saying half of the time, or something else that is failing to get me going, I am not sure. What I am sure of is that the whole thing was taxing on my patience. Even the scenery was disappointing.
The only entertaining part of "Sweetgrass" is one cowboy who is going stir-crazy from his boredom on the trail. He lets a string of expletives fly that could fit in beautifully with Tony Soprano and the guys. As long as he is cursing, it is watchable. Unfortunately, the cursing cowboy has far too little time on screen.
Taylor and Barbash have given us what they have set out to give us and I believe that in someone else's hands it might be worth a viewing. However, it's a real shame that this possibly important and fascinating story has been reduced to watching grass grow and sheep eating it.
