Meat (1976)

Director:

Frederick Wiseman

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

business | actual animal killed | 1970s | meat | slaughterhouse | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Filming Locations:

Greeley, Colorado, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Frederick Wiseman's documentary 'Meat'

Saw this documentary once in the late seventies when it aired on PBS and, considering the subject matter, the Meat Packers lobbying group probably went ballistic and has prevented it from ever being shown to the public again.

It's pretty scary and after seeing how cattle and sheep are processed for human consumption. After I saw it I stopped eating any red meat product. Thankfully, it was shot in black and white (the only 'color' you would have seen would be red from all of the blood) and follows the cattle from the pens where they are milling about and then get directed to the slaughter house. They are then 'humanly' dispatched by knocking them out with an electric shock. Probably to prevent the adrenaline from pumping into their system which acts as a 'poison' spoiling the meat for consumption.

They camera then follows the carcass thru the whole meat packing process showing the meat packers standing knee deep in blood as it drains from the carcases that are hooked by their hooves on the assembly line and then sawed up for their particular 'cuts' of meat. There's no narrative or music. Just the raw video view of what happens to cattle when they are prepared for human consumption. The camera really does everything necessary to show the process of delivery of the less glorified image of your basic hamburger, t-bone steak, rump-roast, etc.

I don't know how most people feel about what they put in their bodies but after seeing this documentary you will swear off of any meat that's 'red'. Medically, red meat, with the nitrates and nitrites included to 'preserve' the meat on the shelf longer, can cause all sorts of cancer causing maladies to your intestinal tract and colon. Stick with chicken or fish for the time being but those two groups are inching their way to being unfit for human consumption also.