The Other Lamb Movie Storyline. Life with Shepherd is the only life Selah has ever known. Their self-sufficient community possesses no modern technology, and is hidden away in the woods, far from modern civilization. He is the group’s guardian, teacher, and lover. Each of the many female members of the group is either his wife or daughter.
Selah is pure in faith, but also dangerously headstrong. She was raised as a daughter of Shepherd, but it is only a matter of time before she also stands to become a wife. As an encounter with the authorities forces the women and Shepherd to build a new Eden further inland, Selah increasingly doubts her faith, and has strange, bloody visions. The onset of puberty brings with it harsh new rituals, and her first shocking glimpse of what happens to Shepherd’s women as they age.
The Other Lamb is a 2019 horror film directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and written by C.S. McMullen. It stars Michiel Huisman, Raffey Cassidy, Denise Gough, Eve Connolly, Kelly Campbell, Ailbhe Cowley, Isabelle Connolly, Irene Kelleher, Charlotte Moore, Jane Herbert and Mallory Adams.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2019. Shortly after, IFC Midnight and Mubi acquired US and UK distribution rights to the film, respectively. It was released in the United States on 3 April 2020 and was released in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2020.
About the Story
Selah is a teenage girl, living as part of a cult led by the messianic Shepherd, the only male in the cult. They live in abandoned buildings in the forest and tend sheep. The women are divided into two groups, the younger Sisters, dressed in blue, and the older Wives, dressed in red. As she matures, Selah has become more of a focus of the Shepherd’s attention. She frequently wonders about her mother, who died giving birth to her.
One night, Selah overhears a police officer telling the Shepherd that they must leave. The Shepherd announces that he will be leading them on a journey to their new home. During the arduous journey, Selah begins to doubt the Shepherd’s judgement. When she sees a car driving on a road, she has a fantasy of herself inside it, dressed as a normal teenager.
During the walk, she befriends Sarah, one of the wives who is under punishment for an unspecified sin. Sarah tells Selah that her mother did not die in childbirth, but rather caught an infection and died because the Shepherd would not let her seek medical attention. Sarah admits that she has no faith in the Shepherd but stays because she has no place else to go. When Selah has her first period, she must stay in isolation with Sarah because menstruation makes her “unclean”.
The strenuous hike causes one of the wives to go into premature labor, and she dies in childbirth. After the funeral, Sarah tells Selah that she is leaving with the baby. The Shepherd had told them that the baby had to be left behind because it was “born wrong”. Sarah reveals that it was a boy and the Shepherd wanted to leave it because “there can only be one ram in a flock”.
The Shepherd gets angry at Tamar, one of the sisters, and beats her, further eroding Selah’s regard for him. The group arrives at a valley with a large lake, which the Shepherd declares will be their new Eden. The sisters’ faith has been shaken by the journey, but the Shepherd rebaptizes everyone. That night, he calls Selah to his tent and rapes her. She fantasizes about the sisters killing the Shepherd.
The Other Lamb (2020)
Directed by: Malgorzata Szumowska
Starring: Michiel Huisman, Raffey Cassidy, Denise Gough, Eve Connolly, Kelly Campbell, Ailbhe Cowley, Isabelle Connolly, Irene Kelleher, Charlotte Moore, Jane Herbert, Mallory Adams
Screenplay by: C.S. McMullen
Production Design by: Ferdia Murphy
Cinematography by: Michal Englert
Film Editing by: Jaroslaw Kaminski
Music by: Rafaël Leloup, Pawel Mykietyn
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: IFC Midnight
Release Date: October 16, 2020
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