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Germany, Austria · 2006
1h 32m
Director Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Starring Claus Hansen Petz, Arkadiusz Rydellek, Tibor Korom, András Szarvas
Genre Documentary
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In this unorthodox documentary, director Nikolaus Geyrhalter rejects voiceover narration and enters into the world of food processing only using sounds and images. Looking at both modern farms and slaughterhouses, the viewer witnesses the horrors of food processing. Without a formal narrative voice, the viewer is left to form their own conclusions.
Looks at the agricultural industry across Europe through sound and images alone. Pic offers a tabula rasa in which some auds will see a horrifying indictment of the industry's cruelties, others a realistic depiction of mechanized farming, and some a soft-spoken tribute to manual labor. Meanwhile, precisely composed lensing and painstaking sound design create moments of sublime beauty.
This critic found much to digest (pun barely intended), with thoughts of FDA politics and standard practices, the ritualism and sacrifice of our own species, why baby animals are considered protectable innocents (and inversely, grown steaks-to-be just a fact of life), plus, on a meta level, how people's dietary philosophies will inform their reactions to the work.
The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck
An eye-opener that handles its themes in a refreshingly nonexploitative manner.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Despite this lack of narration, Our Daily Bread never fails to enthrall because of the impeccable eye -- for composition, for color, for movement within the frame -- of filmmaker Geyrhalter.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
What the activist drama "Fast Food Nation" does with talk and the aid of movie stars, Our Daily Bread, a riveting documentary by Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter, does even better, with no voice-over and barely a word spoken by the unidentified workers involved in matter-of-fact killing and harvesting.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Nikolaus Geyrhalter's superb documentary is an unblinking, often disturbing look at industrial food production from field to factory.
Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan
Difficult to sit through, Our Daily Bread is nonetheless an important record, invaluable for those with the courage to watch it.
The non-sensationalized "this is what really happens" approach makes Our Daily Bread extra-creepy at times.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker
It's as much conceptual art as dispassionate survey of the bloodless assembly line nature of the modern food industry, all process and work, automation and repetition.
A thought-provoking documentary that would go well on a double bill with Richard Linklater's fictional "Fast Food Nation."
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