» The Shepherd and the Bear at Sydney Film Festival

The Shepherd and the Bear at Sydney Film Festival – review

June 12, 2025

‘We’re living in a world with huge environmental problems, we can’t control that.’

Max Keegan’s documentary The Shepherd and the Bear follows the journey of a Pyrenees shepherd who struggles to find a successor to look after his flock. During this time, the threat of bears preying on his flock surround him, the film highlighting the tensions between protecting wild bears living in the mountains and need to protect the sheep and the shepherd’s way of life.

Max Keegan and Clement Beauvois’ cinematography is impressive, the vast landscape shots showcasing the huge undertaking of shepherds in herding hundreds of sheep over large landscapes. The uncertainty of the shepherd’s way of life is brought up with the bear, both a threat and part of the natural landscape in the Pyrenees. Bear scarers are employed, sheep are put at risk, and the livelihood of man’s source of income faces uncertainty.

‘You care about the bear and not us’ the shepherds protest, for environmentalism and natural devastation is not about who benefits but perhaps the clashing of cultures or priorities.

Akin to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil does not exist, which presents themes surrounding the complexity of humanity’s clash within conflicting cultures, with nature and personal gain or loss in a world where environmental problems grow increasingly complex due to the interests of one party or another. Audiences are divided between two worlds, the subtly of complexity in Evil does not exist and The Shepherd and the Bear due to the empathy felt towards two opposing parties. It’s almost as if no one is wrong or at fault which makes it super challenging but as with many unfortunate circumstances, there are winners and there are losers. Hamaguchi and Keegan present this in both their work showcasing the power of subtle environmental clashes which are huge and uncontrollable. In the real world where problems aren’t solved by simple solutions Max Keegan’s The Shepherd and the Bear places audiences at a cross-roads, where the world isn’t so black and white.

The Shepherd and the Bear plays at Sydney Film Festival on 14th June. For tickets and info go here.

Review by Addy Fong.