Berlin Alexanderplatz. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980.
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Edition screened: Criterion 7-DVD set #411, released 2007. German language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 940 minutes.
Summary: Slaughter of a sheep on Disc II, Part IV: A Handful of People in the Depth of Silence.
Details:
1) Antique images of livestock being slaughtered and butchered (including horses) are presented 26:21-27:20.
2) Beginning at 33:50 and continuing through 34:38 is a very real scene of a man holding a sheep in his lap, slitting its throat, and bleeding it. After the killing he stands and walks toward us while the sheep lies on its side, kicking slightly in death throws.
The sheep murder is a disappointing inclusion in Fassbinder’s masterpiece. It is the only such violence in this 15½ hour drama made by the gifted director for broadcast on German television.