Under the Shephard’s Power: Observing Cult Abuse and Religious Violence in ‘The Other Lamb’
By Nuha Hassan
In religion, purity and dirtiness are associated with their spiritual connection with their Creator. But do the circumstances differ when it applies to a cult and a totalitarian system? There’s a constant terror and powerlessness amongst cults where the leaders abuse and control their ‘subjects’ to follow their rules.
Malgorzata Szumowska’s The Other Lamb serves as a film that portrays the abuse, violence, and control by the leader of his victims. It follows a group or a ‘flock’ of women and one lone male leader called ‘the Shepherd,’ who models himself as Jesus and gives “grace” as a form to control and manipulate his victims. Szumowska observes the dominating patriarchal structure present in their systems and how the Shepherd’s obsession with purity leads one lone girl to abandon the patriarchal system.
The movie follows Selah (Raffey Cassidy), a young teen who lives with her all-female group in the woods. In this community, the girls and women raise sheep and live off the grid, where they aren’t able to communicate with anyone outside. They are divided into two groups: the girls wear blue meaning they are a “daughter,” and the women wear red, which indicates that they are the “wife” of the Shepherd (Michiel Huisman). It’s a polyamorous family where the girls and women must obey the leader without any questions asked, worship him, and accept his grace. The Shepherd is portrayed as a kind man who cares for all of his daughters and wives. Selah, who is one of his daughters, experiences menstruation and she begins to understand the Shepherd’s manipulative relationship with the women. When Selah meets Sarah (Denise Gough), who is shunned by the Shepherd but refuses to leave the community and lives away from the family, the young girl’s perspective changes.
Throughout the movie, the Shepherd portrays himself as a Prophet — a God who is untouched by any sort of criticism and judgement because of his goodness towards his daughters and wives. While religion can be classified as a comfort or aid for victims of violence, religion that leads to violence, or religion used to justify abuse and violence, The Other Lamb’s observations are connected to the latter. The Shepherd’s control and manipulative behaviour are seen as a sanctuary for these women — except for Selah, who sees him for who he truly is.
To understand the polyamorous system that the Shepherd’s victims have fallen under, let’s examine the community. The Shepherd welcomes women who are in dire situations into his community. He feeds them and takes care of them; in turn, the Shepherd takes them as his “wife.” The Shepherd fathers his biological children with these women. When these young girls reach a certain age, the incestuous cycle of abuse continues. He forces the young girls to be his “wife,” just like their mothers did years before. Not only does this cycle of abuse and control end with forceful marriages and incestuous relationships, but the Shepherd also restricts access to medical assistance if one of the women has a difficult labour. Since he is the community’s leader, no other boy is allowed; so, if one of the women gives birth to a son, the Shepherd asks the wives to “deal with it.” Violence is ingrained in the community. The community and the Shepherd’s generosity are meant to be viewed as a “grace,” but Selah begins to regard these sacred rituals as violent and manipulative intrusions.
In many cultures, religious bodies shame people who menstruate. They are shunned from the rest of the community, as they are considered ‘impure’ and ‘dirty.’ It’s a similar device that is present in many horror movies such as Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976). Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a teenage girl who is bullied by her schoolmates and neglected by her mother. When she gets her period, it unleashes a dangerous telekinetic power that becomes the catalyst of her destruction. Her humiliation and violence towards her by her bullies turn into a horrific passage into womanhood and destroys everyone around her. In The Other Lamb, when Selah starts menstruating, the wives and daughters shame her. She is forced to remain with Sarah, the Shepherd’s “rebellious wife” who refused to leave the flock, as part of her punishment for her transition into a woman. But the ritual isn’t over. Selah is now ready to accept her grace and become the Shepherd’s wife. All of this is part of the polyamorous family’s system that traps the ‘daughters’ in an endless cycle of abuse.
The Other Lamb shows the harmful ways religious violence and cult practices are used as a device to draw attention to the horrors. Szumowska doesn’t dive deeper into the complexities of the cult’s religious practice, but it is clear that the system itself is corrupted with a fanatic portrayed as a powerful man who gives religious authority to his ‘subjects.’
The Other Lamb uses religion, faith, and cult abuse to draw attention to violent practices within religious spaces. The dominating power structure of the Shepherd’s cult is used to justify violence and manipulate his victims to follow the patriarchal system that defines their lives. With the help of Sarah, Selah is exposed to the truth, and she learns to break away from it by silently observing the violence and abuse she and the others have faced at the hands of the Shepherd. It’s a challenging and dangerous situation but through it all, Selah is presented with a glimmer of power to defeat a great evil. Using religion as a tool to oppress and control women, The Other Lamb portrays the twisted practice of religious devotion. The structural systems are challenged and deconstructed to show that violence is juxtaposed with sacred rituals. 🩸
About
Nuha Hassan is a film/tv writer and reviewer. She is a Staff Writer at Film Cred and Off Colour Org. Apart from writing about film, she is a Video Editor at Dead Central. She studied Master of Media at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
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