|
|
|
|
|
| CHALLENGE
#3 |
|
|
KILLER
OF SHEEP (1977, Charles Burnett)
|
|
Summary:
Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of
Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive
dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic
toll of working at a slaughterhouse.
Frustrated
by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple
beauty: the warmth of a coffee cup against his cheek, slow
dancing with his wife in the living room, holding his daughter.
The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life —
sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent
joy and gentle humor.
Killer
of Sheep was shot on location in Watts in a series of weekends
on a budget of less than $10,000, most of which was grant
money.
|
|
|
POEMS
FROM THIS CHALLENGE:
|
AND
THERE THEY LAST LIVED
By Felicia M. Maisey
Graduate, Arcadia University
It
smells, like the remnants of too many lives,
taken at the edge of the blade
Bloodied and scared, empty and yet,
there is now nothing left to fear
Sunlight beckons beyond locked panes,
and leaves us hanging in artificial lighting-
Our bellies emptied, hearts no longer beat
Voiced silence, deafening
the only remnant of sound
We were happy once
Life was good before we came here
Now there is the emptiness~
the tie that binds both killer and creature,
but which is whom, we cannot know
It is here both lingered too long
Here, where they came and
Where
where they last lived
comments
|
|
|
|
