Shepherds and Butchers

Shepherds and Butchers (2017) is a South African courtroom drama you can watch online on iFILM. Lawyer Jonathan Best (Steve Coogan) takes on the defence of Leon, a prison warden who carried out more than thirty executions in the gallows of Pretoria Central — then killed seven people himself in 1987.

Director Oliver Schmitz cuts between the trial and the execution chamber, building the case and its moral weight simultaneously. Andrea Riseborough plays the prosecutor. The film is based on Chris Marnewick's novel drawn from a real case, and its central question — if the state trains a man to kill, what responsibility does it bear for what comes next? — sits with you after the credits. The tagline "Death belongs to God alone" is not decoration. Stream Shepherds and Butchers (2017) online on iFILM.