My worthless two cents on the film.

(I don't know if I need to warn of spoilers or not, but like I said in the title, this is my opinion on the film, therefore I'm going to be going into at least some detail about it. Don't want to know anything about it before you watch it? Don't read this.)

I've just forced myself to watch this documentary a second time and while I've never felt so bold to actually write a full-fledged review on the message boards here- no less on the movie page- I really feel the need to get into my opinion about this film. Forgive any lack of legibility or repeating of anything that might have already been said on this board. I'd been considering actually posting this as a review but decided that I would be far too long-winded to try and post it up on the film's IMDB page rather than simply on the boards for it, so I'm just sort of rambling on from here on out.

As an animal lover, the subject of animal cruelty has always been especially touchy to me as I'm sure it is for many people. I've owned a dog for most of my life and for the past year or two I've taken care of a couple of cats. While I've always been fond of pets, it hasn't been until recently that I've really become passionate about the subject of animal cruelty and becoming a vegan; while I still do eat meat, I'm starting to try and slowly cut back on it until I never have to see a burger on my plate for the rest of my life.

The first time I saw this documentary was accidental. I had on my DVD player and when I turned it off, the TV came back to HBO- right around the point in the film where video footage is shown of 'Pete' recording a sow being hung by a chain from a forklift. Right away, this became the first thing in general that I've ever watched on television and fought with having to turn off. Not because of how horribly done it was (lord knows I've done that hundreds and thousands of times), but because of just how flat out tough to watch parts of this film are. Sows are hung by chains. Baby pigs are grabbed by their ears and flung into their pens. Dead sows are stacked in piles several feet high. All of this, caught on film by a man who infiltrates a Factory Farm in Ohio to try and secretly videotape some of the animal cruelty rumored to take place on the facility grounds.

As mentioned- and probably needless to say but worth saying anyhow- parts of this documentary WILL be difficult for people to watch, especially if you are a real animal lover. At the same time, the process that 'Pete' goes through over the course of the film to try and get a strong conviction on one of the men accused of animal cruelty and torture is something that deserves to be seen and heard about. The information displayed through the footage and the trial that takes up the latter portion of the documentary will be something that everyone should know about and everyone should take into consideration.

For those of you who happen to be scouting these forums before viewing Death on a Factory Farm to see if you would be able to handle doing so: please see this film. Yes, the content in this documentary is infuriating; it's sickening; at times painful to watch. I watch plenty of documentaries, I watch plenty of films with touchy subject matter in them. Horror films are my favorite genre to watch, in particular. Still, nothing I've watched before- be it a wide released theatrical film or a random YouTube clip, be it factual or fictional- prepared me for the moments watching this film where I teared up, where I yelled at the TV, where I threw my hands up dejectedly at the inevitable outcome of the judge's decision at the end of the actual trial that had been filmed.

However, that is part of the reason why I recommend watching this film just once. This story just needs to be told, and this is one of the better, clearer, more informative films to tell such a story. If for anything, the man who spent so much time in his life going undercover to try and expose the animal cruelty and torture on these farms- something that I doubt many people could ever handle doing- more than deserves as many people as possible viewing this film. And in the end, one time sitting through this film should leave most people to wonder about just how an endless number of animals are put down for our own indulgence.

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