It is generally accepted that dogs and their owners come to resemble one another. The gentle comedy Rams suggests the same is true of farmers and their livestock. Most of the men in this film, set in an isolated Icelandic community, have tumbleweed beards that double the lengths of their faces. The patterns on their chunky knitwear could be markings that differentiate one breed from another. And though the farmers don’t have horns, they are every bit as gnarled as the rams they tend – none more so than Kiddi (Theodór Júlíusson), who hasn’t spoken to his younger brother Gummi (Sigurður Sigurjónsson) for forty years. Living on neighbouring farms with no one else in sight might present problems for most feuding siblings, but they have found a way to manage their grievances. When Kiddi is mad at Gummi, he shoots at his windows. When Gummi despatches the invoice for the broken panes, he does so through a third party. A carrier collie grasps the rolled-up note in its jaws and trots off next door to deliver it.
The brothers, along with other local farmers, are facing ruin. Signs of scrapie, the sheep equivalent of BSE, have been detected in Kiddi’s flock. As if that weren’t bad enough, it was Gummi who found it. Now all the sheep in the area must be killed. “Why not just take us, too?” Kiddi rages to the authorities. “Finish the job.”
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