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Directed By: Charles Burnett

Starring: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett

Just last week I had seen a student film by Charles Burnett. It speaks of the problems faced by the black community in America. How they cope with their lives? How at times it is poetic to watch them go around a room? Charles takes some challenging camera angles to portray a family in turmoil not only with themselves but with the outside world as well. It feels like a story out of one of the many Toni Morrison novels. It mirrors the life of a man who has gone through several changes in his life. Changes that were forced upon him that has left him almost inert to any sort of feeling. He sleeps very little and keeps working. But what is that leaves him sleepless for days on end.

The title of the movie derives from the vocation this man does that is killing of sheep. He makes sure they enter their doom through a single door. But there is not one single thing that has left this man in this state. He says he hasn’t done anything to make the devil blush. But this man has been subjected to a lot of frustration because of the way he is made to live. The director delves into the hollow depths of this character with no relief.

There are several recreations of incidents that the director might have drawn from his own life. The images in this film are much wounded almost like blunt pieces of glass trying to get into your skin. There are moments that might make you feel like the air has been punched out of you. The film begins with shadows from this mans childhood. It shows images of how his father used to treat him. There are also images of him stealing things.

The moment after the opening credits rolls is one of the deepest points in this film. The man looks away from the camera and mouths some of the most thought provoking dialogs giving us a sense of what is to come.

The film like most of its contemporary art films is filled with several pauses. But in these moments there are several emotions unspoken and sounds unheard. The film takes us into the lives of these impoverished people with a beautiful and sensual soundtrack. The music almost baths the character with poetic motion that I guess is the Directors trademark. But this is one of the few movies where I didn’t want the film to end.