A sheared history
She Shears (E ) 79 mins ★★★★
Last year, it was Christchurch poultry fanciers, this year it’s feminine fleece specialists in the spotlight.
But while Pecking Order became more political thriller than sporting drama, She Shears is very much about the contest and the striving to be the best. That might rob it of some extra frisson, but there’s still plenty to entertain and educate in this, at times, fascinating Kiwi doco.
Using the now well-worn narrative structure perfected by 2002’s Spellbound, this follows a handful of very different Kiwi women on the road to the world championships of competitive shearing and woolhandling – the Masterton-based Golden Shears.
There’s former world record holder Jills Angus Burney who, when she’s not in the woolshed, is a High Court barrister and solicitor. Part of a shearing dynasty, Central Otago’s Pagan Karauria has overcome a horrific accident to establish herself as a top woolhandler and mentor of other young women.
Northland’s Hazel Wood lives on a dairy farm, but has a five-year plan, which includes owning her own ute.
Meanwhile, Emily Welch is the current shearing world record holder, juggling three children and 30 shearers that she’s the contractor for.
Each of them is given time to share their story by director Jack Nicol, who skilfully cuts back and forth between them, drawing the viewer into the world. And it’s a place that has changed markedly in 45 years, as evidenced by footage from the 1972 Golden Shears.
The level, pace and competition has increased, plus the number of ‘‘lady shearers’’ has increased exponentially (now one in 40 shearers is a woman, it used to be as little as one in 5000).
Motivations are explained and tricks of the trade exposed, especially ones to put your fellow competitors off. There’s also a nice rundown of what the judges are looking for and, in particular, how points are lost for shoddy work. Strangely and a little disappointingly though, there wasn’t something similar for woolhandling, which meant that while it was beautifully shot to capture the majestic ‘‘throws’’, one was still left mystified as to how it was scored.
Still, each of our protagonists has been well-chosen and boast charisma, competitiveness and chutzpah to burn. There’s also a hilarious Golden Shears commentary which occasionally threatens to drift into Best in Show territory.
Throw in some gorgeous rural vistas, ornery ovines and inspirational quotes like ‘‘you can’t rise to low expectations’’ and ‘‘you can’t rest on your laurels, or the sheep will destroy you’’ and the result is an absorbing watch.