Based on Grímur Hákonarson’s Hrutar, Rams transplants that film’s woolly, fraternal premise from the rugged slopes of Iceland to Australia.
Bucolic, taciturn Colin (Sam Neill) approaches farming with wistful humour and affection. His brother Les (Michael Caton) is an ornery, cantankerous drunk who makes a habit of passing out in fields. Despite their close proximity – they share the Grimurson Ranch – they haven’t spoken in forty years.
When an outbreak of a deadly infection hits the shire, Colin is driven to comically desperate measures to save whatever he can – soft furnishing be damned!
As directed by Jeremy Simms, Rams takes a gentle, matter-of-fact approach to its themes of fraternal estrangement and bureaucratic intrusion. That the destruction of the livestock is viewed largely as necessary doesn’t excuse department stooge De Vries’ (Leon Ford) blithe eradication of a community’s whole ways and means .
Local vet Kat (Miranda Richardson) seems to be there mainly to lend support to Colin, but Jules Duncan’s script gives her some opportunity to break out of an otherwise thankless role. While more sociable than Les, Colin is still an irascible old stick who can’t get out the way of his own happiness and Kat takes him to task for it.
Away from Steve Arnold’s picturesque cinematography and Antony Partos’ lilting, lively string score, Rams is at its best when touching on the brothers’ trauma. Its final act takes place amid fire and smoke, rather than the snow of the original film; a post-apocalyptic setting for the inevitable brotherly reunion.
If the film’s humour is more woolly than laugh-out-loud, the film has its heart in a right place.
