by Jason Cox 

It took over 30 years but in 2007 Killer Of Sheep finally created the critical whirlwind it deserves. Directed by Charles Burnett, at the time a UCLA film student, the film won an award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1981 but never received a commercial release due to copyright issues with its expensive slate of popular music. Fortunately, with a new 35 mm transfer and the royalties paid for,* the film was given its wider audience six years ago and became the hallmark of neorealism it always should have been.

The film was shot in the Watts district of Los Angeles, using Burnett’s friends and associates as amateur actors. The actor that appears in the most scenes and is given the most screen time is Henry G. Sanders who plays Stan, a weary slaughterhouse worker. He is the killer of sheep, the title character, but he isn’t the main character. The film employs a loose, episodic narrative where a cinema verite´ style connects each scene to the next without a conventional story unfolding. Rather it is the Watts neighborhood that exists as the main character, where streets are broken, plight is evident, and children fill its corners with taunts and cries. 

Killer of Sheep is equally a contribution to world cinema as it is to American cinema, much as the struggle of African-Americans is rightly as much an international issue as it is a domestic one.  Moreover, Burnett's influences for the film do not reside in the United States either. He has said inspiration for Killer of Sheep came largely from the works of Basil Wright and Jean Renoir. Easily made comparisons for any savvy viewer are Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (children's play patterns) and Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D (the out-of-luck protagonist). With many people seeing the film for the first time in the last few years, the resurfacing of Killer of Sheep in 2007 has coincided with a modest revival of the genre. Films like Chop Shop, Wendy and Lucy, and Bubble all have strong neorealist elements, and all have been deemed "topical" given the financial crisis of 2008. The pervasiveness of harsh economic times in Killer of Sheep, from Stan’s soul-killing job to semi-functional cars to the children’s squlaored, refuse-laden playground share distinct similarities with these more recent films.

One of the traits of the film that works best is ironically the one that kept it in relative obscurity. Burnett is able to keep his narrative together through a soundtrack of soul and jazz, forcefully used to convey African American culture, yet free of Hollywood African American stereotypes. The most moving scene in the film is set to “This Bitter Earth” by Dinah Washington, as Stan and his wife slow dance in the twilight. Was the music necessary? Does it elevate it to another level and therefore make it worth the three decade wait? That is a difficult point to argue in favor of, as many low budget directors are forced into concessions towards the greater good of getting seen, yet I still can’t imagine watching Killer of Sheep without its soundtrack. It is an integral part of the film.

Ultimately Killer of Sheep is so unique that it is difficult to come up with the correct assault of superlatives. Calling the film amazing for its time is almost a disservice as few American films have broached neorealism thematically with any setting or subject (other than the handful mentioned here). It is amazing for any time. Film history is full of production wonders, but to have an African American director nail the tenets of a reclusive genre (plus hit the high notes of other film movements) and to capture the mood of a time and place so worthy of the task like Watts in the 70’s is a cut above any definition of special.

*One of the Killer of Sheep's main funding champions was filmmaker Steven Soderbergh. As Soderbergh has become a bankable, A-list Hollywood director, yet still lacks the great film in his resume, the act of funding the restoration of Killer of Sheep and therefore granting it access to a mass audience may go down as Soderberg's greatest achievement…..and here you thought you saw Ocean's 13 for no reason.