Home Entertainment: ‘Rams’ digital review

Throughout lockdown, celebrities have been posting little insights into their day to day lives, with results ranging from the charming to the cringe worthy. One such celeb that falls very much on the side of charming is Sam Neill. Even before the pandemic, Neill has maintained a very wholesome collection of videos and images across his Instagram and Twitter which follow him and his day to day life out on his farm and vineyard. With animals from cows to sheep, pigs, dogs and chickens, Neill clearly has a love for getting his hands dirty and caring for farmyard creatures both great and small. 

It is no surprise, then, that the Australian film Rams appealed to the veteran actor. Based on an Icelandic film of the same name, but with the scenery transplanted to Western Australia, Rams sees Neill play local shepherd Colin, who lives out on his old family farm in a small remote farming community. He shares the land with his brother, Les (Michael Caton), who raises his own flock of the award-winning family bloodline of sheep, but the two men haven’t spoken to each other in decades. When an outbreak of a rare and lethal ovine illness, the authorities order that every sheep in the valley be slaughtered. With Les turning to drink, Colin tries to find a way to keep their family line of ovine alive. Could this be the push the estranged brothers finally need to reconcile their differences? 

With moments of comedy and family drama, Rams is a heartfelt depiction of an endearing community hit by hard times. It is also a very well-observed expression of the stubbornness of men of an older generation when it comes to communication and the means in which they express their feelings. It is certainly this latter aspect that the film is most successful at, particularly in the early stages of the film when establishing the differences between the two brothers. Colin is more organised, tidier and has a much neater sense of operation on his farm, while Les has more of a mud, sweat and spit approach, with a clear dependence on alcohol leading to an unkempt farm. 

When disaster first hits the town in the forced slaughter of the livestock, the film shows the effect on the two brothers and the community as a wider whole. With a collection of charming characters making up the community, you truly feel for the hardship suddenly faced upon these people who have chosen to lead rather humble lives,lives which become derailed so unexpectedly. The film also uses its Western Australia setting to powerful effect when the community is also faced with the danger of bushfires, which have caused the town a great deal of pain and struggle in the past. It is soon very clear that this is far from a simple existence that these people lead, and is in fact a way of life that is constantly on the edge of being shattered into a thousand pieces. 

That precarious position of livelihood is what drives Colin and Les to their respective reactions when faced with having to destroy their family line of sheep. Les heads down the self-destructive route, while Colin aims to be more proactive, even if it means going against the authorities. Both reactions from the men demonstrate their differing personalities, but also their common dread over losing what it is their family has worked to build for generations. If only they could actually pay attention to each other’s anxieties, they might well be able to find that they can get along and work to their common goal. 

That central parking works a charm thanks to the work of Sam Neill and Michael Caton, both of whom embody their characters with a heavy weariness that allows them to feel like fully formed human beings with that weight of family history on their shoulders. Neill in particular is very good at portraying a man who has just never been very good at expressing himself. There is one particular moment with Miranda Richardson’s English Veterinarian when she becomes frustrated with his lack of openness, and Neill manages to express in very few words the struggle this man has at being open with people, and the regret he has that it has become an aspect so baked into his personality. Said relationship with Richardons’s vet, never quite lands as convincingly as the one between Colin and Les, but that central relationship certainly holds enough resonance to carry the film through, particularly as it takes more of a focus in the final third. 

Making beautiful use of the remote countryside of Western Australia, Rams is also quite a visually striking film, particularly when it comes to the searing hot and relentless summer that brings with it the dangerous bushfires that threaten this small community’s way of life even more than the sudden outbreak. It makes for a striking landscape to deliver a tale that is also at its best when it is being sincere, with most of the comedy beats often feeling more forced than the more heartfelt drama at its centre. The drama is what wins out though, making for a very charming and engaging look at community, family and the importance of communication. 

Signature Entertainment Presents Rams on Digital Platforms 5th February.

4 out of 5 stars