'Daily Bread' hard to swallow
By Corinne Minard, Staff Writer
May 1, 2007 | 6 a.m.
"Our Daily Bread" offers a disturbing look at the world of high-tech food production. However, only those who are willing to look deeper and think about the message of each image will understand the film.
The documentary contains no plot. In fact, there are no interviews, little talking and no music throughout the entire film. The talking that does occur is not directed at the camera and isn’t even in English. Instead, the film consists of scenes, one-by-one, that are often not even directly related. There is nothing transitioning between the shots of peppers being picked and of pigs being slaughtered.
This may sound boring, and if the audience only sees the film as that, then it really is. “Our Daily Bread” is not the movie someone goes to for a relaxing night out. Instead, it is a film that asks the audience to contemplate the message that is behind each scene. The coldness and lack of humanity that lies in every moment of this film is highlighted by the film’s aspect that would cause others to consider it boring.
The lack of talking and music only shows how cold these production factories really are. Many scenes feature no humans at all; only machines are shown doing this work. When people are working, they are often doing repetitive tasks that ask nothing of the mind. The effect this has had on the workers quickly becomes clear. One woman eats her lunch quietly, not caring that her shirt is splattered with pig blood. Another man answers his cell phone in a cheerful manner after sawing a cow in half. There seems to be no emotion in these workers at all.
“Our Daily Bread” is not an easy film to understand. If one takes the time, though, to contemplate what exactly each moment means, a person can take away a different view of the food we all eat.
The film shows again on Tuesday, May 1 at 9:45 p.m. at the Athena Cinema.
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Check out the official site of the Athens Film Festival to find more films.
Speakeasy rating: B+
Running time: 92 minutes
Not Rated
Genre:Documentary