“Glennkill – A Sheep Crime” review: Sheep as murder investigators

You’ve seen all sorts of things in the crime genre: locations in all sorts of picturesque or less picturesque places, maverick investigators – and now sheep too. The German author Leonie Swann sent the fluffy animals to Ireland in 2005 in her internationally translated bestseller “Glennkill – A Sheep Thriller” in search of the solution to the mystery.

Now the sheep crime thriller is also coming to cinemas – with a cast and dubbing that is not bad sheep. But can action star Hugh Jackman (57) actually be brought together in an exciting way with clever sheep in the Miss Marple style, who are then voiced by, of all people, the funny noodles Bastian Pastewka (54) and Anke Engelke (60)? And how do murder, family film and political message actually fit together?

Sheep love, crime fans and a common murder

George Hardy (Jackman) is a loner: he lives all alone in his trailer outside the sleepy Irish village of Denbrook. All alone? Not quite, because the shepherd maintains a close relationship with his flock of sheep. They all have a name, they all have their own character. In the evenings he reads them crime stories. What he doesn’t suspect, however, is that the sheep understand every word and are busy puzzling along.

But the idyll on the farm is suddenly disrupted when the shepherd is found dead. What the village police officer Tim Derry (Nicholas Braun) wants to declare as an accident is, thanks to a resourceful reporter (Nicholas Galitzine), classified as a criminal case. Everyone mentioned in Hardy’s will has a motive. But will the officer really manage to solve the case? The sheep, especially Lily (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the original and Anke Engelke in the German version) and Mopple (Chris O’Dowd/Bastian Pastewka), are not so sure. That’s why they conduct their own investigations – and learn something about the big topics such as grief, love and friendship that humans and sheep have in common.

Harmless crime plot

Leonie Swann’s crime novel became an absolute bestseller 20 years ago, and a sequel followed. No wonder, because the unusual mix of a classic murder case, family-friendly elements with investigating sheep, dark humor and Irish small-town life was completely refreshing. The film also manages to cleverly link these elements together and reflect the charm of the original – albeit in a much more harmless way.

The crime plot comes to a head in a classic, simple whodunit that has already been seen a hundred times with familiar motives: a will with several suspects, a suddenly appearing sum of money and many secrets. Darker themes from the original, such as depression, are simply left out in order to stay with the family film. The solution to the puzzle is therefore very simple and certainly not surprising to everyone. Since you shouldn’t expect a hyper-complex crime plot from the film right from the start, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Instead, investigator clichés are taken up and a feel-good crime thriller is created that is a lot of fun.

Feel-good factor from the first second

Synchronization also plays a particularly important role in this country. While it is often frowned upon and not necessarily a positive point to be highlighted by film critics, things are different with “Glennkill” – because how can something in which Anke Engelke and Bastian Pastewka are involved go wrong? They pointedly synchronize the original voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus – eleven-time Emmy winner – and Chris O’Dowd for Lily and Mopple and give them their very own character. With so much synchronization power, the real, visible main characters like Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson tend to fade into the background. In addition, the sheep’s characters are already more profound than those of the real people in the film, which unfortunately sometimes seem exaggerated and somehow out of place.

But you don’t have to be afraid of too much Pastewka and Engelke show. If you dose it just right, you’ll always forget that it’s their voices – just like the CGI sheep sometimes transform into real herd animals before your eyes. The fact that the two sheep and their speakers share a deep friendship is a nice side note. Incidentally, despite decades of collaboration, this is the first synchronous project for Engelke and Pastewka.

Against repression and forgetting

Anyone who expects peace, joy and pancakes because of the voices and the harmless plot is wrong. Because despite all the bright colors, cheerful sheep and comedians, the film is not only funny, but above all very touching and emotional. For the first time, the sheep have to deal with all the misery in the world that they have always suppressed. Because all animals except Mopple have the ability to forget negative things within seconds in order not to be burdened by bad feelings.

They often and happily make use of this function – and thereby manipulate their own worldview. For example, they know nothing about death and believe that they will go to heaven as fluffy clouds. That’s why the crime thriller is also a glowing reminder against repression and for coming to terms with your own feelings – no matter how painful that can hurt. And it also shows, in the overarching context of our heated and democracy-threatening times, how important it is to learn from past mistakes, not to simply dismiss them and to actively remember the past again and again.

Conclusion

“Glennkill – A Sheep Crime” manages the unusual balancing act between a crime plot, a brightly colored family world with animal main characters and a touching, serious message. The top-class cast was almost not needed for this – but as a Hollywood fan you are of course always happy about an Emma Thompson. Many of the human characters are somewhat exaggerated and tend to be slapstick. But the depth of the actual stars, which you wouldn’t expect from sheep, makes up for it all. Despite the comedy duo behind the microphone, they don’t seem artificially funny, but really authentic. And so behind a criminal case it becomes clear that even from supposedly stupid sheep, a lot can still be learned about complex people and how to deal with their emotions.

3 1/2 out of 5 Shetland Holmes and Mäh Marples