The Last Keeper (2024)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on September 19, 2024 @ tonymacklin.net.

Many indie films are niche movies - for a particular audience.

The Last Keeper seems to be one of them. If you have some Scottish in your heritage, this is for you. If you're concerned about the complexity of the contemporary world with the past and present colliding, this may be a challenge you want to take.

In The Last Keeper, director/script writer Thomas Opre goes to the severely changing world of Scotland, where "dewilding" and "rewilding" are in combat. One is trying to utilize nature, the other is trying to protect it.

As Opre says, "Change is inevitable." The film could be an appropriate microcosm for the contemporary world.

The Last Keeper is a talky documentary. Each side has credible spokespersons.

But it appears that corporations come in and destroy the land and leave when they have taken their profit.

Hunting is a major activity in Scotland. They have Sport Shooting private estates. They hunt red grouse and red deer. The "iconic" Red Stag is "The Monarch of the Glen." The grouse season is a near holiday. A cook says that young grouse are "absolutely delicious." You can see that this film might not be for some people.

One of the ironies is that golden eagles who come after grouse have come under "Raptor Persecution." They were banned and sent away. To keep the grouse for the hunters.

There are laws to protect the quarry of the hunters.

A group that seems to be a dying off (some by suicide) are the groundskeepers. We see one give up and move his family to a new job because he is aware his future is bleak. He is representative of "the last keeper."

In The Last Keeper, both sides are trying to control the land and its use. And the culture.

May the golden eagle prevail.

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