Film: Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass (Grasshopper Films) is a quietly mesmerizing documentary as rugged and expansive as the local landscape it portrays. Directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash, this classic 2009 film follows a band of shepherds as they drive their flock of thousands of sheep through the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains in one of the last great pastoral traditions. There’s no narration or musical score, nor formal interviews with the ranchers; just first-hand, in-the-moment dialogue of tried-and-true cowboys reflecting the spirit of Big Sky country. Watch from the point of view of the herding sheep, and observe the heartbreaking threats and challenges of predator encounters and livestock struggling to keep up, giving a clue into just how rewarding, yet brutally demanding, the job can be. This documentary is a direct blend of how humans, animals, and land co-exist in the American West.