filippaberry84
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Rexanne
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
AbhiMathews
In a suburban outskirt of post-WW2 Paris, we are enamoured by the beauty of one of France's pearls. It's an ordinary day where time seamlessly and relaxingly passes by. We wonder, "what's going on?"It's only when you search inside the buildings one actually realizes the life (or lack thereof) in the city. Paris, a destination spot for romantics and travellers abroad, has its meat industry displayed--not their biggest attraction. It's not a heinous crime nor an "extreme" act. Yet it's only when peering behind the guarding walls we see the treachery the human race is capable of. Choosing to disregard mass murder is one thing, but the blood on our hands, innocence stolen and suffering caused is something we will take to the grave. The complete sense of normality is the most sinister aspect of this short film. Rarely do people actively consider what they are consuming. We observe how very regular the acts of slaughter are depicted and it appears to be an outrageous crime. But it's not. It happens in our very own backyard and in the most elegant of places.
Macholic
The film opens by showing life in a Paris suburb and the portal to a slaughterhouse with its monument of a bull in brass and then we move inside the slaughterhouse. The camera is like a fly on the wall, it sees everything but never interact or interfere with what's happening. And for anyone not raised on a farm where they did their own slaughtering, this is indeed a shocking document: A horse collapses in 1 second as it is shot with a bolt pistol in the head and a cow tumbles after a hammer with a long pipe on the hammerhead has been buried in its skull. But that is just the starter on this blood feast. The main cause being numerous calves beheaded and a row of sheeps having their throat slit and in between that animals being flayed and gutted. The slaughterhouse has its own stream in the floor, where rivers of blood is running from the slaughter. I can imagine urbanized children having nightmare for weeks after seeing this film..and their parents forsaking the meat for vegetarian delicacies after this remorseless view of the animals demise to satisfy the meat-eaters cravings. I am a vegetarian myself, not out of conviction, but because I was raised that way and as a such, I am thankfully free from dealing with the dilemma of wanting the meat but not wanting to deal with the the killing and butchery. Today death of animals has become a remote affair to most people, out of sight, out of mind. Not so when you see this film. Black and white images can indeed be gruesome, color just wouldn't have made this film worse. Even the squeamish should find the courage to view this film, just once! This is what death looks like when a real artist trains his lens on it, it is beautiful too! 10/10
Claudio Carvalho
In the periphery of Paris, the fate of horses, cows and other animals in a slaughterhouse is detailed in this short documentary. My first comment about this disgusting short is that fortunately it is not in color. I believe that there are two possible views of this short: technically, my opinion is that it is perfect. The shootings of Paris, the cinematography, the camera, the skill of the workers, in this regard everything is perfectly shown. However, the theme is simply awful and of a completely bad taste. I do not know if George Franju was vegetarian, but probably his intention showing the slaughter of animals, inclusive of an offspring, was to make the viewers become vegetarian. I believe most of the pseudo-intellectual readers will not like my review, but that was my impression of this documentary. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "O Sangue das Bestas" ("The Blood of the Beasts")
antoniomt_2000
I turned this off within the first five minutes. It's very sick and disturbing, the moment I turned this off was when the beautiful white horse was let into the slaughterhouse and it's skull was punctured by a small tubed instrument. This creature was lying on the floor in a state of shock before it died. The narrator said the animal dies instantaneously, it didn't. I don't agree with graphic realism towards animals, insects or any living creature. I was very disappointed as I had just watched 'Eyes Without a face' which was a brilliant movie and this short film was attached, which spoilt my night - as I couldn't hurt a fly, never mind watching this savage documentary.reading other reviews on this page, I had noticed they used words such as aesthetic - this is not art or beauty. I can imagine that the documentary would be very articulate and profound but not aesthetic.
