Sheep Hero (2018)

Directed by: Ton van Zantvoort | 81 minutes | documentary

In ‘Sheep hero’ we follow the ins and outs of the Brabant sheepherder Stijn Hilgers. In many respects he corresponds to the romantic image we have of a traditional shepherd: free-spirited, averse to many modernist tendencies, not aimed at satisfying material needs and with a genuine love for nature and the outdoors. This is also confirmed by Stijn himself when he muses aloud at the beginning of the film about ‘openness, tranquility, space and freedom’ as the building blocks for a satisfying and happy life.

But that idyll of a rural life close to nature is cruelly disrupted at an early stage of the film. The image clashes with the neoliberal mold in which we have cast our modern society. Nature management in the Netherlands has now also been sacrificed to the greedy and ubiquitous juggernaut of unbridled market forces. The functionality and value of goods, services, landscapes and living beings are mainly measured by their monetary value. The profession of sheepherder has the status of intangible heritage, but at the same time the daily grazing of Stijn’s wandering herd is trapped by stiff bureaucrats and greedy landowners. To his dismay, Stijn’s profession increasingly revolves around making money. The financial worries make him visibly more sour and affect the essence of pastoral life.

It is precisely this tension between the ideals of the outdoorsman and sincere rebel Stijn, someone who mainly strives for a ‘simple life’, and the often stifling laws and regulations of our capitalist society that give ‘Sheep hero’ an interesting dynamic. We see a man whose ideals clash strongly with everyday reality. However, Stijn will also have to adapt to the new system to a large extent, because there must be bread on the table.

Visually, too, ‘Sheep Hero’ is a beautiful film. The moorland landscapes are often beautifully portrayed, complete with golden-orange morning glow and mystical mists. Perhaps the most beautiful are the drone images, which conjure up the seasonal colors of the heathland and the moving flock of sheep in all their glory on your screen. Herder Stijn, complete with a cowboy hat, completes this Arcadian image of a small-scale managed cultural landscape with high natural values. But just like the traditional pastoral life, that Dutch heath splendor is also coming under pressure in more and more places. Natural grazing is increasingly giving way to larger-scale and mechanized management methods, while residential areas and industrial areas are also making strong local advances.

As is the case with many people who stand for traditional values, Stijn ultimately lost the battle with the system. He has since exchanged his existence as a shepherd in the Netherlands for a life as a cow farmer in France. That knowledge makes ‘Sheep Hero’ an even more wistful document about a dying type of person. At the same time, the print is a cinematic ode to the grazed heathland, a landscape that will inevitably disappear or change in many places in the Netherlands.