Earthlings

People should be disgusted by this piece because it represents what is true in today's society and what is disgusting. If you cannot kill your own meat humanly, you should not be eating it. Lethargy and turning a blind eye hurts you just as much as anyone. This is the reason for heart disease and obesity being rampant in the USA. If you need to run and kill your own prey (and most often unsuccessful) to survive then meat is a calorie packed choice for your sustenance - if you graze and meander all day (like most couch potatoes and most in the US) than you should be eating a grazer's diet of veggies. Meat from suffering dirty animals is not necessary in a modern human's diet.

And, I disagree with the otherwise eloquent poster below. I have never felt drained or tired from my diet - in fact I feel lean and energetic.... and guilt-free.

In the end, there is every reason to watch this film. It is every persons obligation to know what exists in their own backyard and what they are contributing to. If you are fine with your actions after that - at least it is your informed choice.

Watching a documentary like this is not an easy thing to do. But it is something that all people should do. The way animals are treated by humans is nothing short of horrific. The sad fact is that people don't want to be educated in this regard. It is far easier for them to remain ignorant. The question that I was constantly asking myself throughout this film, is "how can people work in these places, and inflict the level of cruelty to these animals so blatantly". Perhaps they are numb to it. But I guess the fact that they can become numb to is means that there is probably no hope for these animals at all. The truly sad part is that many of them seemed to enjoy their work. I certainly hope that I am wrong.

This documentary covers *all* facets of human speciesism (a term that is referred to throughout the film). Pets, and pet abuse, animals for food and clothing, cruelty to animals in the name of human entertainment, zoos, circuses. Although I do consider myself to be an educated vegan, I did learn a lot from watching this documentary. The tone in which Joaquin Phoenix narrated was very compelling. You can tell that he is passionate about the subject.

I suspect that only a vegan or perhaps a vegetarian would be able to watch this all the way through. Most people that support the industries that are outlined within the film, would likely turn it off when it gets to the graphic sections, as they wouldn't want to be put off their dinner. As the film says, it's easier to remain ignorant, so that you don't have to battle with your conscience and make the hard decisions.

I urge everyone that gets the opportunity to see this documentary, to do so. It really is an education indeed. It can be purchased on line from http://www.isawearthlings.com/

An extremely disturbing film. I, like some other readers, felt physically ill and at one point stopped the movie - coming back to it a couple of days later.

I'm sure we have all seen disturbing footage or heard gruesome stories, but what made this seem different was it was very well narrated and the content well structured.

The sound track was wonderful but sombre with the likes of Moby and others of his ilk.

An amazing movie... and a catalyst for all of us to consider what we can do to help the situation - no matter how small the contribution.

Earthlings exposes the atrocities committed against animals, that if viewed in human terms would amount to the most evil crimes against humanity, and should (I hope someday will) be considered as such. It is an important and informative film, fueled by horrific images captured through an unflinching camera lens.

Go into this expecting to be overwhelmed by what you are going to see. I have seen images from the holocaust and the rape of Nangjing and read stories of torture from WW2 and these are frighteningly similar. Much to my surprise it is never preachy - nor does it need to be. The nightmarish images, which to my mind resemble a reasonable facsimile of Hell itself, with the innocent being tortured by their evil overlords, are more than enough. Evil is not the only word that comes to mind when you hear what the workers and trainers say to their sorry subjects as they inflict their torture. But I do not hate the evil men, I somehow pity them, both for the lives they lead and their loss of something I deeply value - empathy and compassion.

What makes Earthlings so powerfully convincing is actually quite simple if you believe that inflicting pain and suffering on an innocent living being is wrong. This kind of suffering could be the result of something as simple as not spaying/neutering your pet. Unfortunately as history shows us, we have a lot to learn about how to treat each other, let alone the animals that share our world. Earthlings gives voice to those that are powerless and cannot speak out on their own behalf.

The film makes a strong argument for some form of compromise on the meat eater/vegetarian debate, but it also delves into the issue of fur trading, animals as a form of entertainment (ie zoos), and as test subjects in the name of science. The footage in each segment is nothing short of incredible and is surely the result of years of effort, on the shoulders of many impassioned individuals, in order to be collected. To those who contributed to this effort, I salute you.

Its true that Earthlings does not offer solutions to all of the problems it seeks to expose. Nor could it hope to do so. The viewer is challenged to seek their own answers and carry the voice of the voiceless to the lawmakers. I can only hope that more people see this and make changes in how they live their lives, and the laws that govern the treatment of animals. The devastating reality is that this potentially life-changing documentary contains only a microscopic portion of what is happening every single day, in every single country, around the world.

This is a must see and should be required viewing in high school classrooms. In case you decide not to watch Earthlings, particularly if it is because you believe animals are ignorant and don't deserve to be treated humanely, I want you to know that ignorance is NOT bliss if you walk on four legs.

I can totally understand how someone can have a lack of compassion for animals. By the end of this documentary I felt somewhat numb myself, from the ceaseless onslaught of horror contained within. So if you're brought up, for instance, in a hunting culture, or a biblical culture, or an "animal manufacturing" culture, or the outskirts of a bull-fighting ring, you're probably numb to the suffering of living things, too. What this movie sets out to do is climb into the minds of those who have lost perspective for whatever reason and remind them that if they're still mistreating animals, or participating in the mistreatment of animals, then they're not fulfilling a major responsibility of being human, and are therefore part human, semi-human, sub-human.

Call me a softy, but I've felt for a long, long time that there's really no fundamental difference between humans and other animals. Therefore, animals experience things like pain, despair, horror and fear the same way we do. To me this just makes logical, common sense. But again, I can totally understand how someone can disagree. I, and the creators of this film, just ask those naysayers to remember, to look deep within ourselves, beyond their conditioning, that it is possible for humans to err when it comes to such belief systems. The Nazis are a good example - they treated Jews like animals. But honestly, the stuff in this documentary are the same - and far worse, in many cases - than what the Nazis did to the Jews. Nazis still had a relative modicum of respect and restraint for other humans compared to the way animals are treated by humans. If you disagree then you need to get a grip, and look at the images in this movie, and compare the number of Jews (in the millions) to the number of animals (in the billions). Let's be frank.

The truth is this documentary is not going to change those who are like the people depicted in the movie who are completely blind to what they're really doing. Many humans are beyond hope in that respect. But it will change those who are straddling the fence. It will give them the knowledge they prayed would never interrupt their meals. It's not a message. It's a reality. A grim, horrific, and terribly sad reality.