El otro cordero

The scenery is strikingly beautiful, but the whole story is so bizarre and disturbing.

This is not your general mainstream movie. It uses lots of symbolism and short flashes of scenes that may or may not have really happened. When the movie is over you don't really know for sure.

As the movie begins we see a large group of females, some young some mature, all dressed in plain long sackcloth dresses. They live off the grid in a strangely stark area. We see the sole man, whom they call Shepherd, with his facial hair and demeanor reminds us of the Caucasian view of what Jesus may have looked like. And we see a flock of sheep, expertly guarded by a well-trained Border Collie. This is a cult.

What is immediately conspicuous is the absence of any males among the children. What we eventually glean, but isn't spoken, is that Shepherd sees to it any male child born is eliminated. A flock can have only one ram. But a cult can't go on forever, eventually a strong willed person will start a rebellion.

I enjoy all kinds of movies, even if I don't relish the theme. This is a well-made movie, the acting is appropriate and the cinematography is excellent, making creative use of the stark Irish landscape.

I am glad I took the time, but I suspect most who favor mainstream type movies will not enjoy this one.

Not sure about the comparisons to Midsommar, The VVitch, The Village and certainly not The Wicker Man. There's far less going on (literally) in this than in any of them. I didn't hate it, but I was certainly bored, and empathised more with the bemused policemen than anyone else. Nice sheep though.

The movie looks very nice with lots of shots of wilderness and such. It is a very slow burn with an extremely serious tone. Whether it's worth watching is entirely wrapped up in whether you think the payoff made it worthwhile. I personally liked the ending, but didn't think it had enough story for a full length movie.

This is the story of a christianesqe cult of all women and their one master living out in the woods. For the life of me I don't see why this is touted as a horror movie, marketing gambit? It is these women's pleasure to serve their shepherd hand and foot...and booty. It's the very slow, long, drawn out story of one of his daughters finally opening her eyes to his real "ideology" and his real treatment of these women. Plus, it didn't hurt that his own arrogance finally got the better of him. As slow as this is, and as NOT a horror story as this is, I was somehow held by the story. I found myself drawn - maybe by the lush cinematography.