The Shepherd on OTT – An RAF pilot’s perfect Christmas miracle

It’s the Christmas season and if you look at the new additions on most streaming platforms, a majority of them will be holiday tales of finding love or happiness during the festival. In that sense, the short film the Shepherd on Disney+Hotstar has its share of festive cheer, but it is more than that, paying tribute to those lost in war and those who risked their lives in trying to save others.

Based on a novella by Frederick Forsyth and developed for the screen by Iain Softley, The Shepherd follows an RAF pilot Freddie (Ben Radcliffe), who takes off on a solo trip across the North Sea to be home for Christmas. What should have been a flight of just over an hour, becomes literal nightmare for him within minutes of takeoff, when his single-engine Vampire aircraft has electrical and multiple instrument failure, and leaves him with no radio contact.

An attempt at visual manoeuvring also comes to nought, when the earlier clear sky is suddenly all fogged up and his triangular flight path to appear on radar and get air control support also remains in vain. With the fuel levels depleting fast and left with no other option but to ditch the plane in the ocean, which would be potentially fatal for Freddie, he prays for help and that is exactly what he gets when a ‘mosquito’ – a world war II era fighter plane piloted by John Kavanaugh (John Travolta) that used to guide crafts and pilots back home – appears amid the clouds and helps Freddie make it to an air strip after all. There’s a twist in the tale right at the end, which makes The Shepherd bitter sweet.

The beauty of The Shepherd is not in the Christmas cheer it brings along – Freddie gets to be with his loved one after all. The short, which is just under 40 minutes is a touching tribute to the real-life pilots of the war and the dangers of the time.