The Latin phrase “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” (roughly translates to “who guards the guardsmen?”) is attributed to Roman poet Juvenal and was made prominent by the philosopher Plato in their work Republic. The phrase has come to be interpreted as asking who monitors the people who provide protection to the people, who ensures that the guards are being proper, true, ethical, and observant without overreach. Interestingly, there’s some debate as to whether this was Juvenal’s intent or whether it was co-opted within the larger context of Plato’s work with Juvenal actually speaking on marital infidelity and whether individuals who accuse women of infidelity have the credibility to do so while they themselves are unfaithful. The point, if you will, is that often, when we consider those in military service or political office, we ask the wrong questions due to a missed context. Within the scope of filmmaker/actor Steven Grayhm’s (The Secret of Sinchanee) latest project, Sheepdog, asks what is lost when we fail to protect the watchmen when their watch has ended.
Center: Steven Grayhm as Calvin Cole in SHEEPDOG. Photo courtesy of Truth Entertainment.
Combat veteran Calvin Cole (Grayhm) has lost his job at a paper mill due to closure, lives alone in the home that used to be occupied by his wife and family, and self-medicates his pain with booze and pills. After a violent incident while out shopping, Cole is arrested and eventually sentenced to counseling in order to avoid jail time. Around the same time, fellow veteran Whitney St. Germain (Vondie Curtis-Hall) is released from prison after 30 years and heads to his children’s last known address in hopes of reconnecting. Bound by both service and family, Cole and St. Germain come together at a time when each needs it most.
L-R: Virginia Madsen as Dr. Knox and Steven Grayhm as Calvin Cole in SHEEPDOG. Photo courtesy of Truth Entertainment.
Written by Grayhm, Sheepdog is a tale with two intentions. The first we’ll get into is the broader scope, which is a fairly generic tale of healing through perseverance as we follow Cole wallowing in his pain as he struggles without systems and support. It’s generic because the beats it follows, while unique to the story that Grayhm seeks to tell, is conventional in its approach. A down-on-his-luck protagonist is given one last chance to make good and, through a series of disconnected events, manages to grow from net negative into a net neutral lifestyle that allows for continued growth. Here, this is represented by Grayhm’s Cole, whose past (military service and post-military life) weighs heavily on his experiences with St. Germain, with VA therapist Dr. Knox (Virginia Madsen), and with fellow unit member/best friend Darryl Sparks (Matt Dallas). If one wanted to be clever, they could view Cole and these three relationships as a bit of a riff on A Christmas Carol with each representing a potential past, present, and future, but that would require the film to lift up beyond the surface and really dig in. Instead, each one, through a back-and-forth time-jumping structure, more often tells us things instead of revealing information in a natural or organic way, dressing moments of significance for Cole in the artifice of meaning without the needed weight. There’s also a great deal of work done to set up items that one would expect to have meaning that the film itself leaves for the background, mysteries to be pondered by the audience, wondering how they relate to what we’re seeing. More precisely, with all the jumping around, with all the intention to highlight just how bad Cole has it, smaller details get left to the side despite making a point to ensure the audience is aware of them such as drug use (is it prescribed vs. self-obtained?), a question of marital fidelity (why is it always treated like a secret), and conversations that matter for context left to be handled by exposition instead. Even when the performances from the main cast keep one engaged, the structure and execution of the narrative results in the audience feeling like the characters are hitting required manufactured beats instead of drawing them in to get lost in the narrative.
L-R: Steven Grayhm as Calvin Cole and Vondie Curtis Hall as Whitney St. Germain in SHEEPDOG. Photo courtesy of Truth Entertainment.
The more specific scope, however, is where Sheepdog succeeds: addressing veteran support. Veterans did a job that most are unwilling to do and find themselves quickly judged by those who haven’t served. Veterans were hailed as heroes in World War II and discarded by the general public in the Korean and Vietnam wars. Even now, after prolonged engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq, veterans still fail to get the support they deserve, even as the public becomes more aware of the people in power who use and have used their military for personal profit without regard for the individuals being sent or the long-term ramifications of a protracted conflict (on the soldiers or the respective countries). Time and again, veterans have found themselves subject to reduced services and options to aid them in the transition to civilian life (and that’s not even those with injuries or trauma from service) and, for reasons defying logic, these services are often cut or reduced under the guise of budget restrictions while pumping up active military budgets at the same time. The point, and it’s one worth making, is that the individuals who join the military and serve deserve the same support (if not better) once discharged than what is viewed as adequate now. Though Grayhm doesn’t dig into this deeply as he presents Cole as someone resistant to seeking help until forced to by the court system, but he gives us hints through the administrative character Ms. Hazel (Celeste Oliva) who not only refers to Madsen’s Dr. Knox as “Ms.” In a disrespect to her title and position, but who also refers to the patients Dr. Knox is going to see in a group session as “animals.” Yes, the context is in reference to the line “anyone every tell you not to feed the animals at the zoo?” and Dr. Knox bringing freshly made muffins, but it still stands that Ms. Hazel is meant to represent the part of the Veterans Affairs system that sees patients as numbers to be shuffled around and processed, removing all humanity in the process. In another scene, Ms. Hazel challenges Dr. Knox’s dedication, possibly to as a means of being pragmatic, but it comes off as profoundly disquieting as the character is meant to represent the leadership within the VA. All of these small moments in combination with the character’s dismissal of findings Knox discovers combine to form an opinion of Grayhm’s opinion of the VA in its current state and it’s not pretty. These explorations, especially as the film integrates three differing stories of post-service life via St. Germain, Dr. Knox, and Darryl, and the ways in which the return to civilian living didn’t agree with their training, are incredibly compelling as they proclaim that the denigration of veterans is not an ideological problem but a communal one we all share responsibility in making right.
Steven Grayhm as Calvin Cole in SHEEPDOG. Photo courtesy of Truth Entertainment.
Fidelity comes in many forms. It’s loyalty. It’s accuracy. It’s correctness. Why should we, the plebs of society, stand by while those who choose to serve are given a mere “thank you for your service” as recompence for their valor? It’s easy to score points with glib statements of condemnation or falsely sincere comments of support, it’s another thing to actually serve. That we, as a country, continually depreciate the aftercare of our armed forces upon discharge is about as cruel as what we do to our houseless. With his film, Grayhm makes a clear statement that we are all responsible for the change we want to see. From Cole to St. Germain to Knox to Sparks, we are each responsible for the choices we make, but having the support, the tools, to be able to transition from active duty to civilian life, makes a massive difference. Ultimately, it’s up to each person to be responsible for the choices they make and the script ensures that Cole carries the brunt of it, but the message is never lost that being a casualty of one’s past doesn’t mean that there’s not a reason to rest, recover, and begin again. If that’s the only message that audiences receive, then the Grayhm will have accomplished what he clearly set out to do.
In select theaters January 16th, 2026.
For more information, head to the official Sheepdog website.
Final Score: 2.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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