There are very few times I remember feeling as sheepish as I do right now. Jay, the mastermind behind the Cinematic Chiasmus articles I wrote on Ghostbusters, Die Hard, Goodfellas, and The Big Lebowski, gave me a wonderful gift in May.

He said that The Sheep Detectives might just be a chiasmus, and I should check it out. It took me about five months, but I did watch that movie, and I found it to be incredibly symmetrical. He was proven right.

The reason I am so humbled by this experience is that Jay had already been so gracious to me after my The Big Lebowski article. I didn’t have a good experience on that one, but he was forgiving of my poor behavior. And now he comes back with another amazing addition to my Cinematic Chiasmus collection. He is a true friend, and the kind of man I would like to be.

The Chiasmus

The Sheep Detectives is a murder mystery, so don’t read on until you’ve watched the film. This chiasmus is packed with spoilers. That’s kind of the nature of breaking down the plot in this way.

A. George Hardy writes to Rebecca Hampstead about his sheep, naming each one
 B. George explains how he cares for his sheep, giving one medicine for Orf, and reading them stories
  C. The sheep speculate on the murderer in George’s story, and the smartest sheep Lily figures it out
   D. Three lambs approach a winter lamb with no name, but they’re told they can’t be friends
    E. George tells Rebecca about the residents of Denbrook and pays a debt to Reverend Hillcoate
     F. At the end of his letter, George invites Rebecca to come to Denbrook
      G. Caleb Merrow visits George, and Lily prevents sheep twins Reggie and Ronnie from ramming his car
       H. To avoid painful memories, the sheep forget what just happened and walk away
        I. Beth Pennock conceals a letter from George to Rebecca, and reporter Elliot Matthews arrives to cover the Denbrook Cultural Festival
         J. Mopple lies about Lily’s parents’ death, and the sheep unjustly force the winter lamb to sleep outside
          K. George is found murdered in the morning by his sheep after Elliot crashed his car the night before
           L. Lily wants to forget about George, but Sebastian intervenes
            M. Lily decides to help the police solve George’s murder by leaving the farm
             N. Officer Tim Derry talks to residents in Denbrook, and he reveals that George was murdered
              O. All of the suspects lie to each other and themselves after George’s death when gathered for the reading of the will
               P. As the lawyer reads George’s will, it sounds like he’s speaking directly to the suspects
                Q. Mopple charges through the inn and gets lured out by Caleb. Caleb complains about Sebastian being wild
                 R. Elliot offers to work with Officer Derry on the murder
                  S. Lily tells the other sheep what happened that day, and the winter lamb comes out of hiding
                   T. Lily delivers a book about solving murders to Officer Derry and leaves
                    U. Sebastian reveals to Lily that he’s a winter lamb, and he was saved by George from a carnival
                     V. Officer Derry questions all of the suspects and explains that Rebecca lied to him. She claims she was never at George’s farm. Officer Derry thinks she is the murderer
                     V. Lily talks to her flock and explains that Cloud lied to them. Cloud produces evidence that Rebecca was at the farm. Lily thinks Rebecca is the murderer
                    U. Sebastian reprimands Lily and the sheep over winter lambs, and he defends Rebecca from their accusations
                   T. Officer Derry reads the book Lily gave him and follows her to find evidence
                  S. Rebecca tells Officer Derry what happened the day George died, and she is arrested
                 R. George’s son offers to sell the sheep to Caleb to slaughter
                Q. Mopple and Lily sneak onto Caleb’s farm and get chased by his dogs. Sebastian fiercely attacks the dogs
               P. As Sebastian dies, he says he sees George directly before him
              O. Almost all of the sheep agree to forget about Sebastian’s death when gathered by Lily to escape the farm
             N. Lily talks to George in a dream, and he asks her to solve his murder
            M. Lily and the winter lamb leave the farm to help the police solve George’s murder
           L. Lily asks the winter lamb to remember something about George, and the sheep twins decide to intervene
          K. Officer Derry finds paint on the floor of the police station after the winter lamb broke in the night before
         J. Officer Derry fails to figure out George’s murder, and he unjustly signs for Rebecca to be taken away
        I. Officer Derry reveals that Rebecca isn’t George’s killer, it’s Elliot who was undercover as a reporter in Denbrook
       H. To avoid going to jail, Elliot slaps away evidence of what happened and tries to run
      G. Elliot flees Denbrook, and Lily encourages Reggie and Ronnie to ram his car
     F. After closing the case, Officer Derry invites Rebecca to stay in Denbrook
    E. Beth tells Rebecca about her love for George and pays a debt by returning her letter
   D. Two “murderers” approach Rebecca, and she names the sheep and tells them they can’t have her sheep
  C. The sheep marvel at Lily’s ability to figure out George’s murder
 B. Rebecca brings new sheep to care for, one of which has Orf, and George gives Rebecca a book to read
A. Rebecca reads to her sheep, and Lily names the winter lamb George

Feeling Sheepish

This chiasmus was a lot of fun to write. In fact, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before and share the original notes I wrote during my first watch of the movie. Keep in mind that I was going into it blind. I didn’t know character names or any details about the story, but I quickly picked them up. It helps that I watched it with subtitles so I could get the spelling right. Notice that I crossed out “the lawyer” and inserted Van Vuuren when I realized the police officer was accusing him, not her, of murder. The movie did a good job tricking me there.

As you can see, I missed a lot of details on my first pass. And the turning point came into sharper focus on second viewing. I’m so grateful to Jay for giving me another chance and just plain forgiving me. I feel sheepish and yet also deeply joyful to have had this experience. It’s wonderful to know that there are amazing people like Jay in the world.

We don’t have to be sheepish about making mistakes, but we do need to grow from our mistakes. That’s one of the messages I got from watching The Sheep Detectives. Both from the film itself and how it was sent to me.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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