The Carnivore's Dilemma

French filmmaker Benoît Bringer—impersonated by a stolid U.S.-accented voiceover that almost sounds computerized—defines himself as a journalist, not an animal rights activist. But he says that becoming a father and watching his son interact with livestock animals has made him rethink the ethics of modern food production, especially regarding meat and poultry. Viewers accustomed to hidden camera horror videos of American factory farms may find it refreshing (if not necessarily uplifting) that the criticism here is directed at supposedly liberal France, where big-ag swine pens are hellishly overcrowded (the U.K. is cited as being more humane), and that a few organic free-range farms that allow animals to live fairly quality lives are shown in the conservative U.S. heartland. No mention is made of Temple Grandin's famous designs of "humane" slaughterhouses; rather the innovation depicted here is a portable abattoir that visits farms to do the killing (shown on camera) so that animals do not undergo terrifying transport (which also reduces excessive fuel use that potentially aggravates climate change, although the global warming eco-elephant in the room—vast methane produced by cattle flatulence—goes unremarked). While Bringer does provide some food for thought (especially on the unnatural practices of industrial chicken-raising), this subject has been better addressed in numerous other documentaries, most recently Eating Animals (see review on page 16), based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s titular 2009 exposé. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)