If you still haven’t seen The Sheep Detectives, check it out; it’s a great film. It’s really an example of how you could take something as bizarre as sheep solving a murder mystery and turn it into a genuinely intriguing, humorous, yet warm and fuzzy film with so many layers of commentary on humans, our prejudices, and how selective we are about remembering the past and history in general. Go watch this film!
Director Kyle Balda has a great resume – he’s directed many of the Minion movies, the shorts and feature films. He’s also been on the animation team for big films before that.
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The Sheep Detective Explained
Past this point, it’s going to be spoilers. I’ve summarized everything in the video below.
Viewers seem to be confused about two things:
One – What was the murderer’s exact play?
And Two – Who gets the money in the end? (Most people got this wrong, and I’ve answered this in the video above)
Let’s do a quick walk-through.
George Hardy was once married to a woman named Lily who died after giving birth to their twins. George could not financially support his kids so he gave them to the church for adoption.
Years later he become a shepherd and got back on his feet and approached the church to find out where his children were. The minister offered to help but puts a price on the information.
George agrees and connects with his two kids.
George eventually invents a cure for a sheep disease called Orf and makes 30 million from it. He sells the patent to an agricultural firm.
However, in his will, he only writes his land to his twin kids, but gives the 30 million to Society for the Protection of Animals.
While George’s daughter genuinely wants to connect with her father and travels to England from America. George’s son who is in South Africa, gets greedy, he wants the 30 million. He makes a secret trip to America.
So here’s the murder’s play:
1) George’s son comes to town in disguise as a blonde reporter.
2) He prepares poison from the berries of the yew tree
3) He waits for the daughter to meet George and leave
4) Then he goes over to George’s place, poisons and kills him
5) He leaves a forged new will which states the 30 million will go to the daughter
6) This makes it look like the daughter killed George for the money
The next day, when they read the will, George’s son is present at the meeting, impersonating a reporter and counts on being sent out of the room. When the lawyer calls George’s son, he takes the call from just outside and acts like he’s in South Africa, giving him the perfect alibi.
But finally the colour blue on one hand and green on the other on George’s dead body becomes the final clue as the yellow from George’s son’s hair mixes with the blue medicine to become green. And George’s son is arrested.
The daughter gets the land and the sheep and lives there happily ever after, which appears to be her original plan when she came back to meet her dad. The end.
Barry is a technologist who helps start-ups build successful products. His love for movies and production has led him to write his well-received film explanation and analysis articles to help everyone appreciate the films better. He’s regularly available for a chat conversation on his website and consults on storyboarding from time to time.
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