Shepherds and Butchers

South Africa, 1987. Leon, a white prison guard, kills seven black men in an inexplicable act of violence. The verdict is written on the wall. The skilled and cocky lawyer John Weber takes on the seemingly unwinnable case. John is a big opponent of death penalty, and learns in his meeting with Leon that the young guard has been working under mentally inhumane conditions. He has befriended and guarded the prisoners, all of whom have been sentenced to death, but is also obligated to assist in their upcoming deaths. How can one man take on the role of both shepherd and butcher? Director Oliver Schmitz questions the morale of death penalty in this sharp drama, while Steve Coogan is excellent as the charismatic lawyer, and the same goes for film debutant Garion Dowds as the traumatized prison guard.

Oliver Schmitz has been making films for almost 30 years, but only has four films on his record (plus a chapter in the anthology film Paris, je t’aime). Mapantsula received rave reviews in Cannes, but most well known is Life Above All (2010), nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film. Shepherds and Butchers was screened at this year’s festival in Berlin.