I had never taken my kids to the movie theater before. Like many conservative Christian parents, I am wary of Hollywood’s harmful messages in children’s entertainment. But when I saw the trailer for The Sheep Detectives, it looked like something I could enjoy watching with my kids. So I took my five oldest children, ages 4 to 12, to a matinee on my day off, and I’m glad I did. Sharing a couple of large boxes of popcorn, they giggled and whispered during the movie and had a great time.
Without spoiling anything, the movie is about a shepherd who loves his sheep. He doesn’t butcher them but instead only raises them for wool, feeds them, gives them medicine, calls them all by name, and reads them murder mysteries at bedtime. As the movie trailer shows, this good shepherd, played by Hugh Jackman, is murdered, and the sheep take it upon themselves to solve the crime.
My kids had fun trying to figure out with the sheep who the real murderer was. After the film, they spent the rest of the day telling and retelling the story of the movie and asking each other who their favorite characters were.
The Sheep Detectives did not contain anything overtly inappropriate for children — no sexual jokes, no scantily dressed women, no LGBT messaging. There was only one subtle hint at one point that one of the characters may have lived with her boyfriend without getting married; a policeman mentioned an ex-boyfriend with a criminal record with whom a lady shared a bank account. But I’m likely the only one in the movie theater who even noticed that. (There’s also a murder, so commandments obviously get broken).
Christian Messaging
When I was on my vicarage year (in the field training during seminary) in Regina, Saskatchewan, in 2013-2014, one of my pastors was Rev. Ted Giese, who regularly does movie reviews for Issues, Etc. and has written for The Federalist. He taught the youth group that Christian themes are often present in movies, even as many have left the church, because Christianity was ingrained in our culture.
The Sheep Detectives isn’t marketed as a Christian movie at all, and I do not know what religious background the film’s creators have. But the story contains strong Christian themes. One conversation between a wise ram and a couple of sheep as they walked past a church went something like this — a paraphrase based on my memory and my daughter repeating the exchange several times:
Sheep: What is that?
Ram: That is where God lives.
Sheep: Who is God?
Ram: He’s a Shepherd. And also a Lamb. And He’s invisible. And He damns things.
Sheep: Dams things? Like, what beavers do?
Ram: Yes.
Sheep: So, God is a Shepherd and also a Lamb and a beaver who is invisible?
Ram: Yes. And on Sundays He becomes bread, and they eat Him.
Sheep: Poor God.
Now, this is a humorous description of God and the Christian church as explained to sheep by sheep. However, this was not just a one-off allusion to the Christian God in the movie.
Scripture teaches that “the Lord is my Shepherd” (Psalm 23) and that Jesus is “the Good Shepherd” (John 10). Jesus, of course, is the true God (John 20:28) and “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
In the movie, Jackman’s character, George, is the good shepherd. Unlike the bad shepherd and butcher in the movie, George does not slaughter his sheep but rather treats them as if he himself were part of the flock. As is mentioned in one of the books in George’s library, a shepherd belongs to his sheep even as they belong to him.
Even damning is addressed in the movie. God damning people to hell may seem too dark for sheep and little children. Yet even good shepherd George, in his last will and testament, passes judgment on people in the town, including calling the butcher and bad shepherd murderers. He may not send them to hell, but they quickly fall out of favor with the sheep and all the children watching. What does it mean to damn, but to pass judgment on the wicked?
God becomes bread, says the ram. This is an obvious allusion to the Sacrament of the Altar, where Christ offers His body to eat under the form of bread (Matthew 26:26). It also hearkens to Jesus’ words in John 6, “I am the bread of life.” Yet this statement by the ram about God, the Shepherd who becomes bread and is eaten by his flock, contrasts greatly with the bad shepherd who butchers his sheep for meat. We see that the God described by the ram is very much like good shepherd George, whom the flock loves. At one point, one of the sheep dies and goes to be with George, just as Christians believe that when they die, they will go to live with Christ.
As with any good kids’ movie, there were other lessons learned along the way, not just who the true murderer was. Among the sheep was an outcast called a “winter lamb.” Yet, during the adventure, they discover other winter lambs, both among the flock of sheep and the people, including their own good shepherd, George. The winter lamb served as the Samaritan, an outcast among the Jews in Jesus’ day, yet the hero and imitation to follow in Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Even Jesus is called a Samaritan by his opponents (John 8:48). And so, the outcasts are welcomed into the good shepherd’s fold and form one flock, another allusion to Holy Scripture (John 10:16).
A Refreshing Film
It was refreshing to watch a children’s movie that not only avoided inappropriate messaging but also mirrored Christian themes. I hope the many children who watch this movie will recognize that God, the Shepherd and Lamb mentioned in the film, is a Good Shepherd. And while a movie may make references to the Christian faith, it is in God’s house that children hear the voice of their true Shepherd.
So, while parents should take their kids to see The Sheep Detectives, it’s so much more important for them to take them to church, the house of their Good Shepherd.
I am Jesus’ little lamb,
Ever glad at heart I am;
For my Shepherd gently guides me,
Knows my need and well provides me,
Loves me every day the same,
Even calls me by my name.
– Henrietta L. von Hayn (1724-1782), translation by “The Lutheran Hymnal” (1941)
