Sweetgrass. This link is to the New York Times review of this wonderful and unique documentary.
As much a work of cultural anthropology as it is a documentary, this unique film traces the path of a family of Montana sheepherders as they drive their flock down from the treacherous and beautiful Absaroka Beartooth mountain range. With no guiding narration, filmmakers Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor let the natural images speak for themselves, capturing the danger, pathos and humor in this haunting elegy to a bygone way of life.
No narration, just a story brought to us through exquisite photography and often static scenes, such as one of a flock of sheep standing perfectly still, not one moving, and the camera doesn't move either. This is the story of the last move of a flock to summer pasture in the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains of Montana in the early 2000s; one of the title cards at the film's end tells us the family has not taken its flock on this journey since.
We begin at the family's ranch, where sheep are expertly sheared in a fascinating assembly-line manner that shows how adept and quick these men are while doing a backbreaking, relentless chore. Next is birthing and the task of finding ewes who will accept orphan lambs; one lamb is even put in a fresh lambskin - it looks much like a human baby's footed pajamas - to deceive a ewe into believing it's hers. The herd is driven through town, over rocks and into vales, until it has reached the area of sweetgrass which will feed the sheep through summer.
The two cowboys who drive the herd are young John Ahern and veteran Pat Connolly (who looks as weatherbeaten and leathery as any actor in a Western movie). They banter, coax and swear at the herd, put up with bears, get tired of their work and next moment are thankful to be in nature's paradise.
It's a film about hard work, tremendous beauty, and refreshing distance from the screaming intrusion of technology (in fact, the cowboys use poor-quality walkie-talkies for contact when they're at opposite ends of the herd, very rarely getting cell phone reception strong enough to call the ranch). This is a timeless story that will appeal to a rather small viewing audience.
ETA: This might not be suitable for very young children as the cowboys do let loose with som colorful language. They cuss at the sheep, the sheepdogs, their horses and each other pretty much.
