Film Reviews by None

This follows sheep farmers and herders from taking care of day to day business on the farm to a long trek across the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains of Montana, apparently to provide the sheep with summer grazing for the last time. Personally I liked the lack of narration, even though it makes it very hard to work out who these people are or what exactly they're trying to do; but you can pretty much fill in the gaps as you go. I think just filming it gives a better feel for that life anyway. It shows how this hard life can condition a guy so that he's more in touch with the animals than the human beings around him. In contrast we see a much younger man frustrated with the prospect of settling for this lifestyle.

Many great shots of the mountain landscape and of the behaviour of the herd over this sometimes difficult terrain.

Just so unusual for anyone unfamiliar with this lifestyle that it's definitely worth a watch.

When it comes to some things I think the content is vastly more important than the technical or artistic merits, and that's certainly the case here. This is exclusive access to the oldest paintings man currently knows about - how could anyone not be intrigued by that?

Herzog admits that they were limited in terms of time, space, technology and even where they could film from and what lights they could use. So this was never going to be a cinematic masterpiece. That said, I think they did a superb job regardless and paid the paintings the appropriate amount of respect, making maximum use of the available light.

Just film of the paintings would have been enough for me, but it's accompanied by some lovely music, interviews with excavators and experts, and tied together with Herzog's very competent narration.

I was really grateful to be able to have such a good look at these paintings - what a rare privelege.