Bold Native

Great movie without being preachy and very thought provoking. Great story, good plot, the actors they picked for the characters were a perfect match.

I bought this DVD since it's not showing in my area. This movie should get awards!!!! You also need to watch the "extras" at the end - from the documentaries on animal treatment to the happy stories from animal sanctuaries to the cast comments and interviews. I didn't know any of the actors with the exception of Randolph Mantooth (from the 70's Emergency TV fame) so it was fun to hear the actors comments. I loved the characters of Nicole (Ursula Whittaker) and I Rock (Tonya Kay) and her interaction with Richard Cranehill (Randy Mantooth).

I also saw it at an animal rights conference. I would like to see it at least three more times. Once around friends who are not tuned into the concept of Animal Rights to hear their perspectives on it because I think that is who it is written for. Once around friends who are tuned into Animal Rights so I can see their reaction, and finally just sitting at home by myself so I can pause and rewind and just enjoy.

There aren't that many movies I want to see more than once and the ones that I do tend to be escapist. Instead this movie makes me think, holds my interest, and actually makes me want to discuss it.

I can't wait for it to come out on DVD.

Bold Native is not an animal rights documentary. This is a groundbreaking, scripted film that portrays the complicated issues facing today's animal rights activists. The movie is a first of it's kind in the sense that it deals with the many controversial aspects, different strategies and the wide variety of advocacy positions that exist side by side in the modern animal welfare/rights/liberation movement. No other film has engaged itself with these topics using fiction, hypothetical situations, character development and a suspenseful storyline. This movie also exposes an important fact... that we all exist in a time where corporations, in alliance with our government, are cowardly using the fears of the masses regarding terrorism, to silence the free speech of those humans standing up for the non human animal individuals being tortured, mutilated and brutally killed by the same corporations.

No other scripted film has dealt with the despicable and little known federal law called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act which was set up by the corporations (industries who profit from killing animals) by paying off elected politicians. No other film has concerned itself with the emotional, psychological, compassionate and political motivations of so many human beings who risk their own freedom to fight for and liberate the nearly billions of non humans who are oppressed and killed every day. It's nearly impossible to create anything new in the world of film that hasn't been done before. Hollywood has been going out of its way to make sure that everything that it churns out.... has been made two or three times before and 'focused grouped' to never ending insanity. Yet, Bold Native stands out as original among everything else recently released by the big machine that creates the same movies over and over. This is bold filmmaking to say the least.

The films logo of the HOPE piglet is a wonderful metaphor for the future of a possible state of the world. A state of the world where liberating the other animals from oppression and fighting for their rights will one day be seen as rational, sane and just. But the logo might also represent hope for a new more meaningful filmmaking that will hopefully start to include themes about the injustice and prejudices which the other species of the world must endure under human chauvinism. Bold Native is the essence/definition of great revolutionary filmmaking and real HOPE.

Come on Hollywood....get on board!

Bold Native offers a lot for viewers to explore: good characters, intensive dialogue, dramatic editing, and a story line which dives deeply into a subject often seen as too extreme for the general public.

This film will inspire many important conversations, both amongst seasoned activists discussing tactics, ethics and methods, but more importantly amongst the uninitiated: those who have never considered animal cruelty as being something related to our food and lifestyle choices.

This has been a good year for films involving compassion towards animals, with the success of The Cove driving people towards thinking about animal cruelty in ways they might not have before. Still, people in the USA can watch that movie from afar in a way, thinking all throughout that animal cruelty is something which happens "over there" and not in close proximity to the comforts and norms of our own day to day lives.

What Bold Native does is to make the issue of animal cruelty immediate and engaging, by offering us a narrative about characters that are relatable and likable, in a story line that is believable, while at the same time showing throughout genuine footage of actual animal barbarism that isn't an overbearing onslaught like a propaganda video. Instead this intense footage is used sparingly and tastefully amidst the narrative, shocking to those who might be unaware of what is truly going on behind the food and clothing industries, and horrifying enough to hammer home the point that animal cruelty is happening all around us, everyday. The film poses a challenge to us: that if what we see is abhorrent and if we feel compelled to respond, that it is up to us to engage the issue directly, in whatever capacity we deem appropriate.

This is an undeniably challenging film.

At a recent screening I attended,the director of Bold Native described it as "a movie of ideas" and I give this film a lot of credit for addressing some of the moral complexity of the animal rights issue rather than just being a simple polemic. It doesn't demonize or romanticize either side too much.

There is a lot of heart in Bold Native. It's fast-paced, colorful, youthful and fun while underscoring the urgency of helping animals during a time when non-violent animal liberators are being prosecuted as domestic terrorists. Bold Native reminds the viewer that Animal Rights is a human rights issue, too. See this movie!