“Sheep” is the first of three award-winning student videos created during the 2014 intercollegiate National Religious Broadcasters Convention’s 36-hour digital video competition. In that contest, 10 videos were submitted, each by four-person student teams representing their schools. The students were invited to freely give creative voice to subject matter referenced in “Home Economics,” Nick Schulz’s AEI book about changing family structure, or in “American Exceptionalism,” Charles Murray’s AEI book about the U.S. founding and historic distinction.
With a clever twist, “Sheep” portrays the values of honesty, religiosity, and hard work in American life. In the tradition of Milton (played by Al Pacino in “The Devil’s Advocate”), and more recently Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey in “House of Cards”), this story’s antagonist is a diabolical and cunning political consultant who, like a chimera, is in the span of four minutes both Democrat and Republican, non-religious and religious. He is slimy—yet eerily appealing.
This short student film smartly provides commentary on today’s modern political class, in all its manipulations of human envy, personal sloth and cronyism. And yet, a little spark of hope flickers still.
