Peaceable Kingdom

Peaceable Kingdom
Tribe of Heart (2004)
Reviewed by Meredith Jane Hunt
Reprinted with Permission from Earthsave Canada

Tribe of Heart’s documentary, Peaceable Kingdom, asks viewers how current factory farm practices can be justified given that the treatment of farm animals, while perfectly legal, is so undeniably cruel. This film advocates a reawakening of both human conscience and compassion. It suggests that this can be achieved through reconnecting to the innate affection most people have for animals (not just pets) which is often stifled or discouraged in a modern consumer society.

Some of the film’s main subjects are farmers who have come to terms with their moral conflicts about a life they’ve always known. Giving viewers a unique perspective about the people who raise and slaughter animals for food, the film asks the question, “what if the things you were taught don’t make sense anymore?” With sensitivity, it explores the pain and estrangement they face when they question the ethical implications of commercial farming.

The film is centred on Farm Sanctuary, a once derelict farm located in upstate New York. Owners Lorri and Gene Bauston, who started out rescuing “downed” animals in their run down VW Van, founded the sanctuary in the mid-80s. Now it is home to some fortunate animals such as, among others, Frey, a crippled, buck toothed goat and Rosie, a dairy cow suffering from chronic mastitis and therefore no longer “of use”. These animals are, as Gene Bauston puts it, “the ambassadors of their kind”.

The sanctuary seems a place of healing and serenity not only for rescued farm animals but for people too. This peaceable environment is juxtaposed against unsettling footage of the abominable conditions in factory farms, where animals live in absolute terror and darkness. These gutwrenching images are furthermore set to melancholic songs, such as Moby’s “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?”

The film’s subjects all have their own reasons for visiting the sanctuary, whether it is their own isolation and disconnection from modern society at large or from their immediate communities. There is a common thread among the visitors to Farm Sanctuary and that is finding solace from their pain in the company of these animals and the natural environment.

Fourth generation farmer, rancher, feedlot operator, Howard Lyman now tours the world promoting veganism. Unable to deny the consequences of his livelihood, he shares his incredible yet alienating transformation whereby he walks away from his highly successful cattle farm. Lyman offers a provocative perspective on the inherent health and environmental implications of commercial farming, specifically the use of countless chemicals to maximize production and minimize economic loss.

Harold Brown, a stoic farmer, undergoes his own transformation at the sanctuary. Taught that farm animals are there for people’s use and that it is the “natural cycle” of things, Brown buried his pain from childhood. His healing only begins when he meets a cow named Snickers, whom he adopts and goes on to learn a life-altering lesson from.

And so this theme goes, people from all walks of life, not only farmers, visit this unique place to bond with the animals that they are taught to see as commodities. The sanctuary embodies hope for change and even draws parallels to other struggles in history, namely slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.

Peaceable Kingdom is a cogent film for all, from animal rights activists to factory farmers alike. Though it is replete with powerful and unsettling images, it is does not so much demonize but rather appeals to the compassion and empathy in all people. Finally, it aptly demonstrates what a few individuals who care can achieve when they, as Lorri Bauston puts it, “turn their sorrow into action”. As is eloquently stated in the film’s opening, “all the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of one candle”.