MovieChat Forums > Unser täglich Brot (2006) Discussion > The Humans

The Humans

posted 17 years ago by shesamazingnyc
8 replies | jump to latest

I felt more sympathy for the humans performing the same tasks over and over and over again than I did for the animals.

Well, I did feel some empathy for the animals. I believe they do feel fear. I just learned about Temple Grandin, who is an autistic woman with a rare gift of empathising with cows. She has a special ability to communicate with them. Many many large corporations hire her to help design systems for cattle farms that minimize the stress cows feel.

I believe that humans are carnivores and are designed to need and eat meat. I totally respect vegans and vegetarians, but I am not one.

But anyway, I wondered what the people thought about all day while they were performing their solitary repetitive acts. I thought the people working with the plants in the greenhouses and fields were somehow better off than the meat processing employees. I just cannot imagine lasting at a job like that.

[–] emilk2000 17 years ago

I agree that the (small) human element in this movie makes a lot more intresting. It makes you ask a lot of interesting questions like: How can people stand such repetative task? How can they stand doing these more and less horrible things to the dead and alive animals? How can I still eat meat when I would never be able to work at a slaughter house (and barely stand whatching it in a movie)?

But it also brings up other interesting thoughts: doing this horrible things to _dead_ animals aren't evil by anyones moral standards (not mine, anyway), yet I find the process revolting. It's the treatement of the alive animals (especially how they treat the chickens) that is really the moral 'gray' zone, yet I find those passages in the film less upsetting.

As you, I understand and respect vegans, yet I am not one. I eat meat, but I am against animal cruelty. I do beleive there is a good way to farm animals so they can live good lives and then be killed in a 'humane' way. The cows in the movie did seem to have a quick and painless death (which is a lot more than most humans), yet the scene is very 'strong'.

We shall all die, and these animals wouldn't even live in the first place if it wheren't for our end goal of eating them. What we can do is try to treat the animals with kindness and respect until the end.

I also find the movie lacking in one regars: it focuses mainly on the mass production food market. I would find it interesting to constrast it with alternative, more small-scale ways to grow tomatoes, treat chickens, pick olives etc.

Now, to get back to the people in the movie, a lot of people in the world have very dull repetative tasks at work. These are also the work that get robotized more and more. I imagine that the entire process line will be completely robotized/machinized in very few years, and it was interesting to see how far this process had already gone i the food production line. This industrilazation of the world will keep forcing people to get higher educations so they can do jobbs machines still can't do, and I wonder what will happen to the people who just don't have the skills to do anything else but the work that has (in the near future) been replaced by robots.

Anyway, I just had to get some of that off my chest. Comments welcome.

[–] monophonic 16 years ago

"I wonder what will happen to the people who just don't have the skills to do anything else but the work that has (in the near future) been replaced by robots."

There's always gonna be s**t that needs to be cleaned up.

[–] Skint111 16 years ago

You make some very good points, I agree with most of them.

[–] veeeliko 13 years ago

What we can do is try to treat the animals with kindness and respect until the end.

Yep,that's what we should be looking to change.Vegan is not the alternative because we are not made to eat vegetarian diet,period.There are a lot of health problems that comes with not eating meat.I have been vegetarian myself for around 6 years and I know how unnatural it is.The way to stop this madness with abusing of the animals and the whole quality of the meat production is to change the whole process from raising and treating of the animal to the way they are slaughtered.
I believe all animals should be fed their natural diet,should be grown free-range and stress free and should be killed in the less painful and less obvious for them way.We can do that pretty easily as it is done with domestic animals.
The only reason we are not doing this on mass scale is because of the big corporations and their number one priority-more cash,no morality.
However the awareness is growing and people don't want to see animals being tortured and abused unnecessary.
As of now we have organic which is close to how the things should be done.I'm from Bulgaria and here pound of organic chicken is equal the money you would pay for a small apartment(no joke),so it is not an option for me.What I do is try to get my hands on small local producers of meat with their own farm or get the meat/milk/eggs from people who raise domestic animals.So if you want to make a change it is not that hard,everyone has a choice,there is no excuse for keep sponsoring this horror.Know and choose where your animal products comes from.

Cheers

[–] ArthurDental 14 years ago

Self-justification is a wonderful device.

[–] catabatic-1 13 years ago

I guess the workers unconsciously desensitized themselves. Since prehistoric times, our ancestors has been genetically "wired" to consume meat for their survival in harsh and unforgiving environment. This was during the pre-agricultural era of mankind.

Fast forward to the 21st century; and as the film shows we have pass beyond the basics of agriculture and reached the high tech of food productions to supply a chosen population for their food consumption. The demand for food (from mankind) and greed for profit (from multinational food corporations) comes into play.

When an average Joe eats his steak or fried chicken, he doesn't think of how this meal was processed or prepared. He's wired to enjoy the meal and satisfy his hunger. Most of us know how these meat were processed; but we keep this notion at the back and deep in the recesses of our mind.

Like the workers in the film, we as a consumers are also desensitized as to how the animals we eat are killed, er I mean "processed".

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] millsyooksy 8 years ago

I thought the people were beautiful. I don't think they have hard jobs though, repetitive and not incredibly stimulating but I dunno...I am an accountant and work in an office and our work is just as repetitive and boring. But it's work, there are other people to interact with and stuff must be done. That's just the way it goes, not everyone can be an actor, painter etc...