Earthlings

The documentary takes the use of animals in human life in five chapters: pets, food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research. Much of the footage was gathered with hidden cameras, and the method is not argument but direct exhibition. Shaun Monson directed, Joaquin Phoenix narrates and Moby provided the music. What carries the thesis is that all three have held the same public position for years. This is a work of persuasion rather than information. The effect is measurable. Over the years an enormous number of people have named this film as the reason they became vegetarian or vegan, and its free circulation online multiplied that. Its flaw is inseparable from its method. The film does not ask you to decide, it asks you to endure. Ninety five minutes of slaughterhouse and laboratory footage runs with no counterargument anywhere, and the narration slides into accusation in places. Who it is for: viewers who want the subject at full weight. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot watch violence done to animals.