Le sang des bêtes (1949)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Georges Franju

Writer:

Georges Franju (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Short | Drama

Plot:

An early example of ultra-realism, this movie contrasts the quiet, bucolic life in the outskirts of Paris with the harsh...

Plot Keywords:

Worker | Paris | Slaughterhouse | Blood | Actual Animal Killed

Cast

Georges Hubert	...	Récitant / Narrator
Nicole Ladmiral	...	Récitante / Narrator

Also Known As:

Blood of the Beasts

Runtime:

20 min | Argentina:20 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Abattoirs de La Villette, Paris 19, Paris, France

Company:

Forces et voix de la France

Trivia:

This short film is featured on the Criterion Collection DVD for Les yeux sans visage (1960).

few things can compare to the horror on display, maybe Night and Fog...

I should give some disclosure: I eat meat, not every day but enough to consider myself a fan of things like steaks and burgers and hot dogs and the occasional ribs (chicken is another matter). Watching Blood of the Beasts is, basically, enough to make anyone who's ever bitten into any of what I've mentioned completely sick to your stomach. Or anyone for that matter: the bluntness of the camera, of looking straight on and abstracting these images of a slaughterhouse in Paris, is the bravest thing imaginable. I'd compare it to Resnais' ability to keep the audience focused on the horror of the holocaust. So much horror shown right in front of us where it's impossible to look any other way.

It is what it is, and it's all the more shocking. Heads cut off, limbs town, skulls bashed, organs ripped and blood flowing down the concrete into drains, lambs shaking as they're still living, I could go on and on, but it's crucial to experience it. It will make even the most hard-bitten meat lovers nearly come to tears. The film-making is intense because of its objectivity: while Franju is choosing what to show us, it is all what makes up this slaughterhouse. It's an act of surrealism of Bunuel in Un Chien Andalou or even Land without Bread almost by going into such a depth of ultra-realism (maybe the slicing of the eyeball comes closest to recognizing the "ugh" factor that for 5 seconds is made nearly 20 minutes here) that it becomes like something of a work of poetry- dark, hellish poetry that would give Burroughs nightmares.

Staggering work, completely unforgettable. Don't watch this alone if you're a vegan!