Killer of Sheep is a vivid depiction of black life in Watts, California during the late 1970s, directed by Charles Burnett, a central talent of the L.A. Rebellion. The story follows Stan, whose work in a slaughterhouse is gradually sapping him of emotion and feeling. Growing more and more alienated by his labor, he becomes concurrently more distant from his wife, who attempts to keep Stan and their children happy in spite of the encroaching banality of their lives. Killer of Sheep deftly, agonizingly illustrates the dehumanizing cycle of industrial labor and its exchange with, or rather its withdrawal from the black community.

“A miracle of human decency and exalted artistry… kissed with the rigor of a Bresson, the gentle eye of an Ozu… Burnett possesses what may be the rarest quality in American film—tenderness.” – John Powers

“There may be no better contemporary American filmmaker who has so richly evoked the infinite varieties and textures of life, black or otherwise.” – Scott Foundas, LA Weekly