The new Peaceable Kingdom is here



About four years ago now, I attended the first Wake Up Weekend vegan event at Calvin College as a skeptical pseudo-vegetarian. (Yes. I admit that at that time I was–for some inexplicable reason–still convinced that fish were not animals.) I could see why killing cows, pigs, chicken and other animals for food was problematic–especially from a health perspective. But these vegans seemed to be making a bigger deal about eggs and dairy than I thought were warranted at the time. As the two-day event unfolded, Harold Brown (Farm Kind), Adam Durand (Compassionate Consumers), Nicole Matthews (PETA), and Nathan Runkle (Mercy For Animals) made their case for veganism as a matter of ethics and slowly I began to see things differently than when I arrived. However, it was really the first release of the documentary Peaceable Kingdom, that transformed my skepticism, nixed my pseudo-vegetarianism, and propelled me toward seeing veganism as an integral part of my commitments to social justice, creation care and to my walk as a follower of Christ.

To say that watching the earlier version of the Peaceable Kingdom was a powerful and transforrming experience for me would be an underwhelming way to put it. Watching that film made my heart ache as it opened my eyes to the reality of processing animals for food, be it meat, eggs or dairy. I was blind to the reality of what was happening each day to bring certain items to my table, and the film gently called me to a different way of being, even as it exposed my incredible naïveté. Even so, the producers of the film Tribe of Heart recognized that there were shortcomings in the storytelling, the main one of which was the focus solely on factory farming. Issues of “humane meat” production were not included in a significant way and as this industry grew and the veneer of “free range” and “grass-fed” labels increased, people responded to images of outright cruelty in films like Peaceable Kingdom by simply switching brands and glossing over the heart of the matter.

Now a second edition of Peaceable Kingdom has been created to posit that the source of animal cruelty (and this includes for me unnecessary killing for food when alternatives are available) is not simply the particular system in which they are reared. The source lies in the basic view of these creatures as commodities, resources and products and, I would add, the persistent need human beings have to see themselves as wholly distinct from (and therefore more worthy of care, compassion and mercy) than other animals. The new documentary tried to address this core by interviewing both farmers who once participated in industrial methods, and people who have tried to adopt more humane alternatives. Of particular interest to me is the story of Jim Vandersluis and Cheri Ezell-Vandersluis who find that their “their idyllic vision” of starting a small goat dairy farm in which excess animals could avoid the slaughterhouse “crash head-on with the economic realities of animal farming.” Then there is the story of Cayce Mell who discovers that–even after her training to become a police officer dedicated to humane animal issues does little to address the real underlying problems.

Although I have seen the first version of the film, these improvements make me want to see and hear the story told anew. I encourage others who haven’t seen it before or who wonder if it might be worth seeing it again to think about watching it. Currently, there are screenings scheduled for this June at the Berkshire International Film Festival in Massachusetts, the Cleveland Institute of Art in Ohio, and at the Mindful Metropolis Event in Chicago. A DVD will hopefully be available for purchase soon. For more information, visit www.peaceablekingdomfilm.org

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