The Sheep Detectives

Synopsis: A flock of sheep solve a murder.

“Baa, ram ewe! Baa, ram, ewe! To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true! Sheep be true!”

Do you recognize this ovine oath? The first widespread knowledge of the entreaty to be loyal to your flock came from the movie Babe. Babe is a piglet who can herd sheep. Whilst the farm’s sheepdogs stalked and chased the sheep to move them, the little pig politely asks them to move from here to there. The sheepdogs disrespect the sheep, believing them to be stupid. But sheep are not stupid. The story gave us a glimpse at the virtues and intelligence of sheep. But are sheep smart enough to solve a murder mystery?

The Sheep Detectives, based on Leonie Swann’s book Three Bags Full, gets us right in with a flock of sheep, introducing us to the ways of sheep and a host of personalities. Their ways? Eating grasses and sticking together. Their personalities? Varied. Belonging to this smallish flock in England are: Lily (very smart), Mopple (remembers everything the others would rather forget), Sebastian (a loner), Cloud (gregarious- even for a sheep), twins Reggie and Ronnie (rambunctious), Wool-Eyes (could use a fringe-trim to uncover his eyes), Sir Richfield (a dignified elder) and Zora (a curious youth).

Every dusk, before the sheep settle to sleep, their shepherd George (Hugh Jackman) reads aloud to them from mystery books, doing different voices and giving engaging readings. Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) always manages to figure out the killer, while others jump to conclusions. George loves his sheep but figures they don’t understand human language. But we know better.

George works hard all day and gently ministers to the sheep, especially to a lamb shunned by the others because they were born in winter unlike all the others born in the spring, as per usual. There’s a very “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” scene in which the spring lambs, Daisy, Oliver and Pickles approach the winter lamb, but a sheep tells them to shun the lonely lamb. But mostly, the sheep get along and respect each other’s differences.

George seems pretty saintly, but he has some disputes with villagers in nearby Denbrook. He disrupts a church service, scowling as he marches up to the altar with a roll of bills and plunks it down in front of Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) as a donation. I bet the parishioners didn’t mind seeing a fit man with a mysterious grudge interrupt the service. It was probably the most interesting thing to happen in the sleepy village in a long while. George also gets in an argument with another shepherd, Caleb (Tosin Cole). Outside of his trailer home at the edge of his sheep’s meadow, he yells at Caleb to go away.

Plenty of bucolic villages in England have weekend festivals to draw in tourist business. Denbrook, no exception, is hosting a cultural fest. Regional reporter Elliot (Nicholas Galitzine, dreamy loverboy in The Idea of You and Red, White & Royal Blue) comes across the town while he’s looking for something worthwhile to write about. When he pulls up to the village inn, run by Beth (Hong Chau of The Menu and Wuthering Heights), she brings him around back with great fanfare to — a few tables holding a smattering of unimpressive local goods. He’s eager to leave, but car trouble keeps him in town. Maybe he will get a story after all, because there is a murder that night!

This is in all of the adverts, so I’m just going to come out and say it: George the shepherd is the victim. No fair of the filmmakers to cast charismatic Hugh Jackman and then kill him off. I didn’t like it, but imagine how the CGI sheep feel. Speaking of which, there is a strange conceit in which the sheep can will themselves to forget unpleasant incidents. Of course there are good reasons to want to forget something traumatic, but such innocence doesn’t allow one to be wary when they should. I’m talking about you, probiotic shake.

After the sheep discover George’s body outside his trailer the next morning, they consider forgetting but Sebastian arrives from the hilltop- where he typically keeps his own counsel- and says they should not forget. Lily wants to know what exactly happened. Shepherd Caleb, happening by, discovers the body and alerts the village police officer Tim (Nicholas Braun, Cousin Greg from Succession, tall as ever, natch). He’ll have his work cut out for him, without big city crime experience. In fact, he’s probably pretty bored most of the time. But who knows, maybe he’s had to investigate a pub fight or two and will be able to rise to the occasion.

Lily wants to investigate. Sebastian says they’ll have to go into the village to listen in on any goings on. The only problem is that she and her flock never leave the meadow. But she gains courage when she sees a chicken cross the road and, yes, get to the other side.

The villagers are too preoccupied with news of the crime to pay any mind to the sheep, Lily with Mopple (the sheep who has a strong memory) and Sebastian. Sebastian looks quite stern, but he has a back story that makes his hardened sadness understandable.

What’s this?

An urbane woman and a pretty, but slightly rumpled-looking 30-something woman emerge from a car at the village center. They’re quickly surrounded by curious villagers, none with pitchforks, fortunately. The older woman announces that she is Lydia, George’s lawyer who is in possession of his will. She’s played by Emma Thompson who always adds a bit of cheek to any British production. The other woman is Rebecca (Molly Gordon), George’s daughter recently arrived from America.

Tim zeroes in on Rebecca as a suspect, but she claims an alibi, saying she stayed in a neighboring town after flying-in. She insists she has just set foot in Denbrook for the first time. Lily wants to quickly solve the case but realizes that whatever clues she finds will somehow have to be transmitted to the policeman. After all, the sheep aren’t convinced of humans’ intelligence.

First things first, the sheep manage to get into George’s trailer and pull a crime solving 101 sort of book off the little bookshelf. They helpfully leave it outside the police station in the dead of night. They cleverly lead Tim to other clues. The police officer becomes accustomed to seeing a sheep or two in town, staring at him from behind hedges.

Meanwhile, the sheep are in limbo about their collective future without George. The local butcher stops by the meadow, appraising the flock. He eyes the sheep like Cruella de Vil scrutinizing Dalmatian puppies. Uh oh…

Just like Babe the piglet, the sheep are innocent of the fate of so many barnyard animals. While they seek justice for George, their chance for survival is threatened. George only sheared the sheep, but there is a large customer base for mutton and – too sad —lamb. I think that lamb is actually a traditional dish at Easter. I don’t understand because Jesus is known as The Good Shepherd, often painted with a lamb in his arms. Nowhere in the New Testament does it say anything about Jesus handing the lamb over to a butcher.

Have faith that the sheep will do right by George and solve the mystery, even managing to point the local police officer in the right direction. As for saving their own skins? Well, thankfully, this is not a horror story.

P.S. The Sheep Detectives is a credit to cozy mysteries and has more fleetfooted low key humor than I expected. It made me curious about sheep too. After the movie, I did some reading up on them…

First off, domesticated animals do lose the canniness of their wild kin but still retain impressive abilities. Wild sheep live in the Middle East, Asia, Central Europe and North America… Sheep were domesticated roughly 11,000 years ago. They are sociable herbivores –some of my fave types… They have keener smell & hearing than people… Sheep have a panoramic field of vision. I’d like that for myself, but I don’t want the requisite bulging eyeballs on the side of my face… In wild flocks, the males form bachelor herds when they mature, while ewes and their offspring stay together.

Regarding sheep on farms… Tails are docked and males castrated without anesthesia. Lots are killed, eg., in the UK in 2022, more than 13 million sheep were slaughtered… On May 1, 2028, live export of Australian sheep will become illegal. The overseas shipments are extremely stressful for the animals. Death in transit due to illness from filthy conditions, lack of food and water, and extreme heat are common outcomes… And the lambs; consider that unfarmed for meat they typically nurse for 4 – 5 months. Farmed lambs are slaughtered between the ages of 10 weeks to 6 months of age ☹

Regarding intelligence… Sheep have excellent spatial awareness; this makes me jealous. They have a great memory for faces—of sheep especially, but also of humans… In some cognition and learning studies, they perform as well as monkeys. (I couldn’t find a direct comparison to what kind of monkeys)…They can learn from each other…A University of Illinois study places sheep intelligence as lower than pigs & about level with cows. No word on goats, but they seem about as smart as your average dog and level with most humans.

P.P.S.  Other movies sympathetic to the plight of domesticated farm animals include: Charlotte’s Web (1973), an animated film based on the classic book about a pig and a wise spider… Babe (1995), a sheepherding pig and his friendship with the farmer, the sheepdogs and sheep… War Horse (2011), a horse sent into the perils of WWI. The young man who is his guardian enlists & tries to find him after his mean father sells the horse… Okja (2017) a blend of live action & animation of the hippo/pig-like creatures raised for slaughter. Okja secretly lives with a kind girl in the countryside.

Movie Loon Movie Review Shortcut:

Grade:  A-

Cut to the Chase: Original and charming comedy with some moving meditations on the afterlife.

Humor Highlight:  One villager says of Shepherd George: Vegetarian? I can forgive that in a woman; but a man? Disgusting.