pavman_pavman After reading other members reviews of Earthlings that disagree with the content shown in this film as being propaganda to become vegan I myself questioned my decision to take part in a plant based diet with my family of 4. I agree that this film is very hard to watch because of its confrontational nature but it is essential to put yourself in the shoes of the Earthling being massacred for the financial gain of farmers, transporters, workers, chefs, big business and ultimately the consumer. Its fair to say that animals may suffer a worse fate decided by another animal through the natural survival of the fittest process, but most of these animals do not have a choice in there fate. They are bred by humans, they are enslaved by humans, they are used for the financial gain of humans and subjected to unspeakable cruelty by moraless humans. My family is not taking on a plant based diet because we are self absorbed and want attention but purely for the reason of not wanting to participate in the consumption of meat, dairy or eggs derived from an animal that is scared, being controlled and ultimately killed riving in pain.We as the dominate Earthlings and custodians of earth have to find it within ourselves to feel compassion and empathy towards creatures that find themselves in this position.Is becoming Vegan the answer??? I'm still not sure but what I am sure of is that my family will not be directly or indirectly responsible for what takes place daily on 1000's upon 1000's of kill floors and animal factory farms on this planet.In closing this film will either make the skeptic's take notice of what is happening around the world or it wont but watch it and you decide for yourself.

sandnair87 Early on, Earthlings, a documentary film by Shaun Monson, presents striking images of Nazi genocidal atrocities towards Jews, which elicit a curious cognitive dissonance in the viewer's mind - certainly the Jews were cruelly "treated like animals", but on this occasion we are moved to ask a different question: should even animals be treated this way? Or did the Nazi treatment of Jews stem in fact from the socially accepted reduction of animals to mere objects? From there on, it goes on to discuss the extent of modern society's pervasive speciesism, successively covering five expanses: Pets, Food, Clothes, Entertainment and Science. The ordering of this sequence is cunning and effective, and it helps Monson make his case about the endemic nature of speciesism in our society.Earthlings speaks to our innate sense of compassion. Something that is there inside all of us, but needs a reawakening. It is a movie that examines our spiritual conscience, personal evolution and so much more. I did have to prepare myself before I watched it mentally not to cry through the entire movie. I managed to get by with tears welling up in my eyes, and some trickling down my face, but that was unavoidable. If you have at least a bit of a heart within you, this movie is going to make you cringe at times and evoke some serious emotion, but that is not a good enough reason not to see it. I'm not going to attempt to describe the ghastly scenes in Earthlings. There were parts I missed because I had to turn away. At other times I acted like a little kid watching a horror film, covering my face with my hands, only watching what could slip through the cracks between my fingers. But this is no horror movie. Earthlings is real. Yes, it is inconvenient to find this out. Yes, it is going to make you rethink your ways, and yes, it may lead you to make some major changes in your life, but that is what evolution of the human being and spirit is all about.As a production, Monson's Earthlings is a meticulously crafted work, featuring narration by Joaquin Phoenix, a moodily effective musical score by Moby, and rare footage from inside the animal factory farming industry that must have been difficult to acquire, giving it the right atmosphere and the right facts to really drive the message home.Earthlings forcefully, sometimes disturbingly, reminds us of an essential character of our consciousness, something about ourselves that our culture often dismisses: compassion and empathy. Along the way it shows and tells some inconvenient truths that most of us would probably prefer to avoid, laying bare a mass hypocrisy that we mindlessly accept. Earthlings shows us what is right there to see, if we would only look directly and honestly.

Tiago Ferreira This documentary has both good things and bad things to it. On the plus side, it represents a lot of realities that you may not be aware of. Even though I had previously regarded videos about animal farms, this was the first time that I have went through the subject of animals for human consumption in all of its span. The fact that this documentary goes beyond food, into the topic of entertainment, clothing, etc. will let you come face to face with realities that you were ignorant of, and give you a lot of food for thought. On the negative side, this documentary is highly biased. The author is intentionally focusing on the worst case scenarios and, due to his own ignorance, spreads some ignorance and common misconceptions. The point were this was more noticeable to me, was when he was discussing scientific testing on animals, were he shows that he does not comprehend what is the purpose of animal testing. One simple example of that is vaccines, as the first vaccine was developed thanks to animal testing. Also, animal testing is carried with very strict regulations when it comes to causing pain or discomfort, and is not used to replace human testing, but rather to complement it. Similarly to this bias, you have biases on the topic of food, were he only covers mass production farms; leather production, were he focuses only on the worst case scenario that is the Indian market of leather; on the fur farms in China; etc.In the end I recommend this video, as it will give you a lot to think about, and it will show you a lot of things you might be ignorant of.

Lube_For_Jesus The problems with Earthlings is mostly from the effect has on people. Due to the nature of the film, people come away from it with an OMG reaction which is what the documentary was going for, but relies on emotion more then facts. Throughout the film, they say that these are the norm, however many times they will show other countries, now if people live here and support the AR movement then cool, however I can't help what another country does to it's animals, we have enough trouble trying to do it for humans. Now that isn't to say you shouldn't care, I simply believe that they presented the worst situations, said they were the norm (perhaps because they went only to bad farms?), and the solution given wasn't to improve conditions it was to not eat meat at all.Now, the computer industry isn't exactly good for the environment (even through recycling), but are you going to give up your computers or would you rather improve the industry? Just saying.If you want to get someone interested into caring for animals who doesn't, this is a good doc., but it should be used more for informing on the worst not a reason to change your diet.If you think that killing animals is equal to murdering humans you will likely disagree with me, however it isn't about you reaffirming what you already believe in, its about trying to get people to care. People will disagree with you, and this film (as they should) but it shows that we do need to improve how we treat animals."We eat animals, they deserve respect from us." -Temple Grandin