With BPACC re-opening in December, a number of people in the class took the opportunity to visit and watched ‘Rams’, an Australian film starring Sam Neill (Colin) and Michael Caton (Les) as feuding brothers. The relationship was reasonably well portrayed, with some serious moments mixed with a little bit of comedy. An example of the comedy was Colin loading Les in a front-end loader to provide transport to hospital when he was suffering from alcohol poisoning.
Raising separate flocks of sheep descended from their family's prized bloodline, the two men work side by side yet are worlds apart. When Les's prize ram is diagnosed with a rare and lethal illness, authorities order a purge of every sheep in the valley. Colin attempts to stealthily outwit authority, but Les opts for angry defiance. The film has a “happy” ending with the two brothers in the hills looking after a growing flock of their prized sheep.
The cinematography was appropriate, with some great shots both of the countryside and what we see when our country is on fire. So good to see a film made on location that can provide us a good view of the country where we live.
There were certainly elements of Australian rural life portrayed well: people taking jobs they would not otherwise consider, young people planning to leave town etc when there is a downturn whether by drought or, as in this case, the loss of all income. There were some stereotypes (eg hard drinking) but I cannot decide whether this a good or bad. Perhaps there was an implication of smaller paddocks and flocks of sheep than reality, but this was not major detraction.
Overall a good film and a pleasant morning back in a cinema! Members who watched the film rated it from 3½ to 4½ out of 5.
Our February discussion will be on “The Dry” which opened at BPACC on 14 January with several screening through the rest of January.
Raising separate flocks of sheep descended from their family's prized bloodline, the two men work side by side yet are worlds apart. When Les's prize ram is diagnosed with a rare and lethal illness, authorities order a purge of every sheep in the valley. Colin attempts to stealthily outwit authority, but Les opts for angry defiance. The film has a “happy” ending with the two brothers in the hills looking after a growing flock of their prized sheep.
The cinematography was appropriate, with some great shots both of the countryside and what we see when our country is on fire. So good to see a film made on location that can provide us a good view of the country where we live.
There were certainly elements of Australian rural life portrayed well: people taking jobs they would not otherwise consider, young people planning to leave town etc when there is a downturn whether by drought or, as in this case, the loss of all income. There were some stereotypes (eg hard drinking) but I cannot decide whether this a good or bad. Perhaps there was an implication of smaller paddocks and flocks of sheep than reality, but this was not major detraction.
Overall a good film and a pleasant morning back in a cinema! Members who watched the film rated it from 3½ to 4½ out of 5.
Our February discussion will be on “The Dry” which opened at BPACC on 14 January with several screening through the rest of January.
The things we will watch for in viewing the film include:
Joy Shirley
- Did you enjoy the film? What in particular did you like?
- Was there anything that you did not like?
- What did you think about the cinematography?
- What did you think of the performances? Any in particular stand out?
- Do you think it depicted a realistic view of rural Australian life?
- Comparison with “Rams” for those who did see it
- Overall rating out of 5
Joy Shirley
