Pandemic Productions: The Other Lamb
Selah (Raffey Cassidy) Getting Her First Period
Living in the woods with a group of women and your sisters surviving completely off the land sounds like an oasis compared to the chaotic world we live in. Who hasn’t thought about leaving everything behind before? Especially when the world turned upside down this past year. But add one abusive man -- who is also your father and has nine other wives -- and it quickly becomes less of an oasis and more of a cult. Małgorzata Szumowska’s film The Other Lamb (2020) depicts a nightmare of the women’s own making by exploiting societal fears while developing a coming-of-age story at the same time. The effect of these two clashing ideas designs an atmosphere that is both calm and comforting yet dangerous and traumatic.
The film starts with Selah (Raffey Cassidy) as she’s hastily maturing in order to gain the attention and later affection of the cult’s leader -- the Shepherd (Michiel Huisman). The women “lucky” enough to become his wives are clad in red dresses while his daughters wear blue. Both must have their hair braided into a crown around their head at all times unless they’re sleeping, bathing, or have been outcast by the Shepherd. The red dresses are not unlike the clothing worn in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The wives are essentially baby-makers and their only job is to please the Shepherd whenever he wants. Yet when the wives or daughters menstruate they are considered “unclean” and are sent to a hut away from camp to atone for the sins of Eve. Red is a constant reminder of life throughout the film, but it is also impure; the wives have been violated by the sin of bleeding while the daughters are a perfect blue, untouched by corruption within the world.
The Shepherd (Michiel Huisman) Performing His Sermon
The only times the wives and daughters are seen outside of their colors are when they are sleeping, being blessed, or being baptized by the Shepherd. The women don simple white dresses while being blessed to show that they are all equal. Once again red comes into play. In order to bless the women, the Shepherd kills a lamb for its blood to smear over the women’s faces. They stand in a circle around him begging for his blessing to the point of sobbing. Ceremonially sullying the women in the name of blessing them secures the Shepherd’s position as their savior. In addition to the white gowns, web-like strings wrap around areas of the camp, essentially trapping them inside like sheep in a pen.
And sheep in a pen they are. Once a new baby is born and the wife dies in childbirth the Shepherd tells one of the estranged wives to “leave it with its mother’s ashes.” This is because the baby was “born wrong” or in other words, it was born a boy, and “there can only be one ram in a flock.” He demands complete control over the women in his congregation. But once fissures start to appear in their trust and faith, the true sins begin to come forward.
Selah Standing Up To The Shepherd
From moving the flock across the countryside to losing a wife and a child, the Shepherd’s thin temper snaps. When one of the daughters -- Tamar (Ailbhe Cowley) -- suggests taking a different pathway the Shepherd beats her for not following the hierarchy. Selah’s fading affection then turns to utter animosity when he chooses her to be his next wife. He begins to make rash decisions by revealing more and more of his manipulative personality in order to bring some sense of control back over the women. Though Selah sees right through his facade. She yells at him “you are not our Shepherd” consequently bringing on his wrath in the form of a slap which she promptly returns.
The Other Lamb is a statement of women’s power and resilience even in the most controlling environments. While the women aim to please the Shepherd and vie for his attention they also defend and comfort each other when they are denied or abused by him. Małgorzata Szumowska’s world is rich with complexities that sometimes contradict each other, but in the end, always form a powerful message. Women are not fragile beings, so don’t underestimate their strength.