"Earthlings" the documentary

"One of the most violent films of all time....only its' real"

This is one of the warnings in the trailer if you happen to look up "Earthlings" on YouTube.  I learned about this documentary as I browsed sites about animal welfare and when I mentioned it to my sister she told me that it was quite famous so I asked her if she wanted to watch it with me. And THANK God she did, because I am not sure I would have managed so well on my own. 

I have never in my life been so horrified at anything on my computer screen as I were watching "Earthlings". If forced to watch a horror film I get upset, scared and to be honest; a bit angry at my self and the person "forcing" me to see it. But it is nothing compared to the horrors of real life, obviously! 

"Earthlings" is a documentary made by Nation Earth, a company created to make documentaries on socially urgent issues. Among them animal welfare. On the Nation Earth website they present the film in these words:

"EARTHLINGS is an award-winning documentary film about the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Considered the most persuasive documentary ever made, EARTHLINGS is nicknamed “the Vegan maker” for its sensitive footage shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs."

Never have I seen anything with a bigger impact.  I cried, I actually screamed several times, I yelled at my TV, (The words featuring the most was probably: "WHY?!" and "who are these people?!") I turned away and when I didn't scream, yell or cry I had my mouth wide open in disbelief. It was like watching some horrible genocide. Except it was legal, supported and done in silence. Many don't want to know. At some point my sister and me agreed that we felt like we couldn't cry anymore, but oh, were we wrong.

I believe that ANYONE would feel affected by the obvious suffering featured. If someone don't, they have issues they need to address and are probably some of the people from this documentary. 

“People care about animals. I believe that. They just don’t want to know or to pay. A fourth of all chickens have stress fractures. It’s wrong. They’re packed body to body, and can’t escape their waste, and never see the sun. Their nails grow around the bars of their cages. It’s wrong. They feel their slaughters. It’s wrong, and people know it’s wrong. They don’t have to be convinced. They just have to act differently. I’m not better than anyone, and I’m not trying to convince people to live by my standards of what’s right. I’m trying to convince them to live by their own.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer

If I am to review it beside the very personal effect it had on me, I will mention the narrator and the variety of subjects. The renowned actor Joaquin Phoenix, narrated masterly throughout. He guided us from one horrifying act to the other, giving us lots of information (almost too much I must say, but then again, it woke me up. Never again can I act as I am ignorant of what is going on.) The other impressive thing is the variety of subjects. This is sad of course as it was like a "How-many-ways-can-we-possible-harm-torture-and-painfully-kill-animals- cavalcade". It started out with a little intro, presenting new words and concepts (which shouldn't really be unfamiliar, but they were), like; "Earthlings", "non-human-animals", "farmfactory", and "speciesism". 

The first subject he told us about were PETS. I thought it would be about "normal" animal abuse, but I was quite shocked. So many layers I never heard or thought about. Then he continued with topics as; animal for entertainment, for food, for leather, for fur, dolphin massacres in Japan, different methods of slaughtering the animals, boiling them alive, skinning the foxes while they are still alive (I have not recovered yet after seeing a skinned fox slowly blinking on the ground where it was tossed, it was like watching "Saw" except it was real, and done daily, hundreds of times by people around the globe. And again: WHO are these people who feel this is ok?

I have loved and interacted with animals my whole life. I have both worked as a volunteer at a farm when I was a young teenager, had dogs myself and at the moment I am lucky to have two crazy cats in my life. I could never harm them and don't really see the difference any more, between them, monkeys in the cosmetics labs, or cows in the farmfactory. 

The result. 
I agree with what Nature Earth wrote. 
I am going vegan. 

Oh my gosh. I never thought I would try to stop to eat milk & egg products, but here I go! 
I will try my best to achieve this even it feels quite scary and at times (especially in Norway perhaps) feels impossible, if not eating at home. Tips and advice are very appreciated!
This blog will be a way of finding my way and learning how to live vegan. I will keep posting about my vegan experience and awesome recipes I find on my way. But I will also continue to write about animal welfare.

 Let's show the farmfactories and governments that we are not fooled, not any more!

The full lenght documentary on YouTube. 

One reaction after seeing "Earthlings!