Buried treasure

>> Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, about life in Watts in the mid-’70s, is a long-delayed masterpiece

by MALCOLM FRASER

A savvy cinephile could be forgiven for thinking there are no more undiscovered classics, but Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep is the real deal. Made in 1977 as a UCLA thesis film, it’s been a longtime critical favourite, but legal hassles over music rights prevented the film from ever getting a wide release. It was shown at festivals and museums in deteriorating condition until UCLA decided to pony up for the music rights and strike some new prints in time for the film’s 30th anniversary.

It’s more than worth the wait. A portrait of everyday life in the L.A. ghetto of Watts, it centres around a slaughterhouse worker (Henry Gayle Saunders) and his wife (Kaycee Moore). The film has no conventional narrative per se, but it captures the rhythms of its setting with a poetic tone, an ear for colourful dialogue, poignant performances and unexpectedly beautiful imagery.

It’s difficult to place Killer of Sheep in a film-historical context, not only because of its long-delayed release but because Burnett’s vision is so original. It echoes Italian neo-realist cinema and foreshadows the American indie film movement; Jim Jarmusch, Richard Linklater, Harmony Korine and David Gordon Green have all used similar approaches. And of course, it’s impossible to avoid a comparison to Spike Lee, who would surface 10 years later with another bold depiction of African-American life. But where Lee is unapologetically brash and direct, Burnett’s film, while just as honest and unsentimental, is graceful and understated.

Killer of Sheep was completed the same year as David Lynch’s Eraserhead and a year before Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven; as unflinching and original as Lynch and as lyrical as Malick, it’s undeniable that Burnett would have been considered at least as important a director if his film had seen a proper release. So it’s hard to watch the film without some sadness, but at the same time it’s inspiring to see an out-and-out masterpiece finally get its due. As for the soundtrack that caused all the trouble, it’s a brilliant historical sketch of African-American popular music that compliments the film’s tone. Anyone who loves film as an art form should make up for lost time and run out and see this without delay.

Killer of Sheep opens this
Friday, Aug. 31

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