Narrated By:
Year of Release: 2005
Rated: Not Rated
Director: Shaun Monson
Approx. Running Time: 95 minutes
Format(s): DVD
My Rating: 4 stars (Out of 5)
From Back Cover:
Narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix, Earthlings is a documentary film about mankind's complete economic dependence on animals raised for pets, food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research. Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, Earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. Powerful, informative, controversial and thought-provoking, Earthlings is by far the most comprehensive documentary ever produced on the correlation between nature, animals and human economic interests.
My Comments:
This is an extremely disturbing piece. Although I had previously seen much of the included footage in other, similar presentations, some of what is shown in this film was entirely new to me - and it gave me nightmares. There is one scene in particular - of an animal called a raccoon dog at a Chinese fur farm - that horrified me. The footage shows the animal being dragged from a cage, clubbed, stomped on, and then strung up and skinned - all while still alive. The brutalized remains were then tossed into a pile with others who suffered the same fate, and the camera zooms in as the raccoon dog, lacking any fur or skin, sits up, facing the camera, and blinks.
That being said, this is obviously not a film for the faint-of-heart, but it is one that is thought provoking and may change your outlook on the human/animal relationship.
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E
Not Rated (MPAA)
4 Stars
2005
Documentary
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