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Rec: God's Own Country
Jun. 28th, 2018 11:02 pmSovay recommends God's Own Country in a beautifully written review:
https://sovay.dreamwidth.org/984559.html
I watched this today, via netflix. I loved it more than I can rightly say. This film speaks to me particularly; I grew up on a sheep farm, though we were hobbyists and not depending on the farm for money. And I grew up queer. The scenes with the sheep and the cows are so real. There is a technique for "dropping" a sheep that I learned from the man who came to shear our flock. (Shearing is a specialized skill.) You put your thumb in the ewe's mouth and turn her head back toward her body. She'll fall down and then you can lift her up by the front legs with her butt on the ground, so the shearer can handle her easily. I saw Johnny use this technique in the film. That is just one example of the accuracy.
There are clear parallels to Brokeback Mountain, another film about queer sheperds, but GOC is better: there is a happy ending, little homophobia, little violence. It is, as sovay says, about bodies: the human body as an animal body. The body's uses and limitations and pleasures.
Content note for animal death in the context of farming.
https://sovay.dreamwidth.org/984559.html
I watched this today, via netflix. I loved it more than I can rightly say. This film speaks to me particularly; I grew up on a sheep farm, though we were hobbyists and not depending on the farm for money. And I grew up queer. The scenes with the sheep and the cows are so real. There is a technique for "dropping" a sheep that I learned from the man who came to shear our flock. (Shearing is a specialized skill.) You put your thumb in the ewe's mouth and turn her head back toward her body. She'll fall down and then you can lift her up by the front legs with her butt on the ground, so the shearer can handle her easily. I saw Johnny use this technique in the film. That is just one example of the accuracy.
There are clear parallels to Brokeback Mountain, another film about queer sheperds, but GOC is better: there is a happy ending, little homophobia, little violence. It is, as sovay says, about bodies: the human body as an animal body. The body's uses and limitations and pleasures.
Content note for animal death in the context of farming.
