Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Transformative Film





I feel really lucky to have seen this film grow over the past few years.
It's important, it's powerful and it's got a lot of heart.
It's Peaceable Kingdom, the new film from Tribe of Heart.

Follow that link and the music you hear will be my guy's. That's why I've been able to watch this film evolve over the past few years. He's been working with Jenny and James and I've watched them methodically edit, trimming and trimming until what's left is the most powerful movie I've ever seen.

I've written about it before, but writing just doesn't do it justice.
Now they've put up a clip that gives you a real feel for this project's spirit. It's about animal rights, yes, but it's done in a way that works. It doesn't preach, it doesn't shriek. It just asks you to listen to farmers who've changed the way they relate to their animals, and lets you look more closely at those animals to see why. This, for instance, shows a mother hen and her chick. And it makes you think.

Mother Hen and Chick from Tribe of Heart on Vimeo.



This film is kicking some serious film festival butt. It's won three top prizes already. Maybe its time has come. Maybe it's the right filmmakers, the right subject, the right approach, all together at the right moment.

It's not out on DVD yet. But it will be. If it's going to be screening near you, go. If it's not, request it.

I've seen "An Inconvenient Truth," Michael Moore's films - I've admired them. I got a lot out of them.

Nothing has packed the emotional punch of this one, and not in a harrowing, I'm-scarred-for-life way, though it doesn't flinch from showing reality. Peaceable Kingdom makes you rethink what you thought you knew, and encourages you to reconsider your own relationship to the way things are.

2 comments:

Reya Mellicker said...

This is fantastic! Thank you so much especially for the clip.

I do believe we are becoming more empathic (we being humans). We're seeing more and more that we are part of the animal kingdom rather than "above" or in some way separate from it. This is beautiful. Wow.

Susan said...

So glad you enjoyed it, Reya. They were already in DC, but pass the word on. It's a tremendous film and a real labor of love.
Audience reaction, according to the filmmakers, has been incredible; thoughtful, interested, creating a real conscious shift in perception. Remarkable.