Debut: ‘Sheep And Wolves’ Finds Beauty Among Bloodshed

Grand, sweeping views of the Andes hide bloodshed beneath their snow-capped peaks in Sheep and Wolves, a short film directed by Peruvian-born, Rhode Island-based director Alex Fischman Cárdenas. The film serves as a heart-wrenching examination of the bloodiest “war” in Peruvian history: the internal conflict. Even amid the brutality, the short manages to find moments of pure beauty, cementing the narrative as an extraordinary feat of filmmaking.

Set during the height of Peru’s internal conflict, the short finds itself in the center of a grisly battle between the terrorist group Shining Path (also known as the Communist Party of Peru) and the Peruvian government that took place between 1980–2000, with the former seeking to overthrow the latter and establish a communist state. The conflict, however, far surpassed politics, ultimately becoming an all-out massacre of the Peruvian population.

Rosa (Sylvia Majo) and her son Félix (Aníbal Lozano Herrera) inhabit a small plot of land in an isolated Andean region. They live a simple life in solace, rarely disturbed. Rosa, especially, cherishes this isolated existence alongside her son, who is her entire world. The short opens with a radio transmission, warning listeners that the Shining Path is encroaching and has taken over a nearby town. In Rosa’s case, this falls on deaf ears as she ignores the warning entirely, having no desire to uproot her entire life to flee. Félix, on the other hand, wants to escape, and he does just that, vanishing in the middle of the night without a word. The rest of the narrative details Rosa’s lonely, devastating journey to find her son.

The short’s cinematography is breathtaking, highlighting their quaint farm and the expansive views surrounding the haven. The immersive camera work frames Rosa’s frail stature against grand, insurmountable peaks, working to emphasize the sheer difficulty of her journey. Given that she lives in complete and utter isolation, Rosa is forced to traverse far from home, scaling peaks and valleys in search of her son. The longer Félix remains missing, the further the tension builds, with each of Rosa’s steps growing more desperate.

Sheep and Wolves is especially clever with the delivery of its narrative journey, first allowing audiences to become invested in Rosa and Félix’s intimate dynamic, ensuring that every emotional gut punch that follows will deliver effective blows. Dread seeps into every frame, with even the most stunning of views turned haunting with the understanding that a heinous massacre is currently underway. As the film nears its end, dread has fully wrapped its iron grip around Rosa, who has become a shell of a human being without the comfort of her son by her side.

Rosa is the emotional core of the short. Every step she takes becomes heavier and harder to witness; we are wholly invested in a happy ending for her, even though the narrative’s grisly fate is laid out from the start. This is aided by Sylvia Majo’s tour-de-force performance. A particular close-up near the end of the film is especially visceral in its delivery. Rosa is seen staring off into the distance, shaking like a leaf. While no words are spoken, her face, plastered with grief, speaks a thousand words alone. Her journey is immeasurably difficult, made even more excruciating considering she is forced to endure all of this completely on her own. Beyond an examination of the internal conflict, the short is also transcendent of time, examining the beauty of family amidst hardship and exemplifying the lengths a mother will go to for her children.

In the end, Rosa stumbles upon a member of the Shining Path wearing her beloved Félix’s clothes, revealing the worst-case scenario. The confrontation is brutal. Her anguish is palpable, pouring from her every orifice as she realizes her son’s untimely fate. The Shining Path member responds to Rosa’s outcry by horrifically murdering her in cold blood. It’s an unimaginably gruesome sight, but a historically accurate and necessary decision by Cárdenas. This conflict was real. There were countless women just like Rosa, who lost children, loved ones, and were ultimately murdered themselves. These innocent victims of the conflict lost everything, and the ending of the short leans into the brutality to highlight just that.

Over 69,000 Peruvians were murdered during the internal conflict, an unfathomable number of lives lost. Many, like Félix, simply disappeared off the face of the Earth, never to be seen again. As seen in many other travesties throughout time, Indigenous peoples were disproportionately targeted, with 75% of the victims being native-Quechua speakers, the spoken language in Sheep and Wolves. Quechua is the most widely spoken Indigenous language in South America and is primarily spoken by Indigenous peoples, just as Rosa and Félix were. 

The decision to tell this story in Quechua was intentional and incredibly powerful. Highlighting the severe racism Indigenous peoples faced during the internal conflict, and continue to face across the globe, exponentially increases the impact of the short. Far beyond representation, choosing to have the two main characters speak Quechua provides a voice to those who were murdered and thus forever silenced during this internal conflict. This film is for them, for the families, friends, and communities who are still actively grieving those they lost. 

These innocent people were caught in the crossfire of multiple power-hungry structures. In this so-called “people’s war,” the actual people were anything but considered. Entire towns were slain in cold blood and families were completely wiped out. A conglomeration of senseless murders that highlighted the deception in both the Government of Peru and the Shining Path’s supposed intentions. They reveled in the bloodshed, leaning into it, and going as far as the most remote regions of the Alps to carry out their murder spree.

Rosa and Félix’s fate mirrors the unimaginably cruel state of Peru that haunted the country for two entire decades. The mother and son are ultimately reunited in what appears to be the afterlife, thankfully finding a semblance of peace after their horrific demises. But at what cost did this peace come at? Why did Rosa and Félix have to die to find it? While overwhelmingly tragic, nothing can take away from the rarity that was their inseparable relationship. This is the film’s greatest strength: managing to find beauty among the bloodshed. Humanity is what ultimately guided the Peruvian people through the brutality that was this internal conflict.

The short’s final words and dedication are the most important of all: “For the disappeared and their families.” Many continue to grieve, living with pieces of their hearts forever ripped from them without any semblance of closure. This short is an absolute must-see. Audiences should be forced to look directly into the horrifying nature of the internal conflict, as this is not ancient history, but a massacre full of immeasurable evil that lingers to this day.