‘Shaun the Sheep Movie’ Wrestles With One of Jewish Theology’s Thorniest Questions
One of the most theologically profound films in recent memory is now playing in a theater near you. Torn from their verdant Eden and tossed into a dark dungeon, its characters must secure not only their freedom but their faith, as their Lord and protector turns his back on their ordeal. The movie is a fine example of theodicy, or the effort to explain why an ever-loving, omnipotent Creator would ever allow harm to be visited on his flock. And I mean flock literally: The movie’s protagonists are a bunch of sheep.
Created by Nick Park, the stop-motion visionary behind Aardman Animations, Shaun the Sheep made his debut in 1995, a guest star in the Academy Award-winning short featuring Park’s best-known creations, Wallace and Gromit. Resourceful, responsible, and cheery, Shaun was a scene-stealer, and by 2007 he was rewarded with his own show, comprised of seven-minute-long episodes and revolving around life on the bucolic Mossy Bottom Farm. Neither the animals nor the people speak, and the action revolves around delightful physical set-ups, like a comical attempt to fix the barn’s leaky roof or rein in a ravenous goat.