Bold Native

I posted about a week ago about a movie that was screening in NYC called Bold Native. I went to the Monday screening (and hope you did too) and I'm finally here to review it for you.

You NEED to see this movie. It was so well done. I hear that it was made for almost no money which makes this even more impressive. This is a fictional movie about the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). If you don't know anything about the ALF this is their mission statement: To effectively allocate resources (time and money) to end the "property" status of nonhuman animals. This often takes the form of actions that are illegal such as destruction of property and liberation of animals. You can decide for yourself what you think of these illegal actions. What you do have to say is that the ALF takes action that you and I do not in our daily lives. I posted a while ago about animal testing and how horrible and unnecessary it is. The ALF agrees on that point. I may participate in protests, but they go in and liberate the poor, suffering animals locked in cages.

Bold Native is about animal liberators. It is the story of Charlie Cranehill, a regular guy who thinks animal exploitation is wrong (just like you and me) and decides to do something about it. Charlie's ALF cell is called Bold Native. The movie expertly weaves together real footage of animal liberations from labs and fictional footage of our hero participating in animal liberations. Charlie gets ratted out by a fellow liberator who gets caught and goes underground to avoid the FBI. In case you do not know, our government has decided that animal liberators are the number one domestic terrorist threat here in the USofA, even though no human or animal has ever been injured by the ALF. Ever. To me that shows just how the government feels about it's citizens. If you have money, you have power. Animal testing facilities, pharmaceutical companies, animal agriculture, they own the government and the government is happy to protect them in anyway possible. Like passing the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). Harsher penalties for the same crimes. If I was some random crazy person and burned down a building I would not be charged as a terrorist, but if I am an animal liberator and burn down an animal testing lab (after removing all the animals, obviously) I will be put away for years as a terrorist. This is a tactic used to silence us as activists. It does not silence Charlie Cranehill. He is a smart guy who understands the consequences and decides he has to help the helpless anyway. There is a quote towards the end of the movie that I really loved: "Bold Native is not a person. It's an idea - that animals are not property. They are not ours to use. They are an end unto themselves. Their freedom is beautiful, and their slavery is a horror." Amen.

MollyG and Joaquin Pastor who plays Charlie Cranehill in Bold Native

I recommend that you go on the Bold Native website and beg them to do a showing near you. You will not regret it. I hear that the writer/director and producer are trying to get Bold Native shown on college campuses and on Netflix. Please email them here and ask them to do those things. It would be a mistake for you to miss an opportunity to see this film, and an even bigger mistake if the general public never gets a chance. I saw it once surrounded by vegans and animal activists. I wish I could get another chance to take my non-vegan friends and family. I sent Bold Native an email saying just that. The movie was witty, funny, charming, sad, horrifying, and most of all moving. And critical. People really do think that animal activists like members of the ALF are terrorists. This movie gives a face to a faceless movement. A movement that needs us to speak up. The animals need us to speak up.

Note: I just got an email back from Denis Hennelly, the writer/director of the film. This is what he said about future showings: "Thanks for the encouragement.  We'll definitely try to set up another NY screening.  We've been talking to BAM and we've got plans for a college tour too.  And we're gonna try to get the film onto dvd in the next month or two.  We're also working on netflix and itunes." Keep your eyes out!!

Watch this!

Hello people out there in bloggy land reading this! (all two of you...)

This is important. Please watch this video and support the amazing work In Defense of Animals does. Up here in NYC, ida is not a prominent group. It is actually through a blog that I really started to learn about the organization. (I'll let you figure out what blog. It is in my blog-reel but you'll have to do some digging). What amazing work they do! I wish they had an NYC office so I could be a part of the critical work that they do.

Watch the monkeys!


Their website is: idausa.org.

Not that I should have to say this but animal testing is deplorable. People will tell you that we need to test drugs on animals otherwise how will we know if it is safe to use them on people? This shows how differently I think then most of the world, but I think killing innocent creatures so we can live longer lives is terrible. For starters, a drug is rarely something your body needs. 99% of all human bodies know how to thrive without artificial help if we would only feed our bodies real food (i.e. VEGAN food. the good stuff. not junk), our bodies are smart and know how to heal. Secondly, many of the chemicals that are tested on animal are for cosmetics. And not for new cosmetics either. Many are tested over and over again. for NO REASON.

Now as you may or may not know, I have an adopted bunny. He is not the type of rabbit that is used for cosmetics testing (though he is the type that is given to little children for Easter and then neglected until someone realizes that they actually don't want to take care of a rabbit) but I feel the plight for all bunnies who are subjected to cosmetics testing. And cosmetics testing isn't even required by law! See more about animal testing on PeTA's Stop Animal Tests site.

But back to the monkeys. Poor monkeys are tested on for medical products. Ugg. Most of the results aren't even applicable to humans as we are different species. You know, I am a "science person" but why cant scientists realize that having a heart does not have to conflict with our goals to learn more and save lives. There are some alternatives to animal testing on GEARI's website, but if we were really such great scientists we should be able to come up with many more. That is my animal testing rant. I hope you learned something.

You will hear from me next in two days on Sunday when I will have a post about the Sea Shepherd beach cleanup that I am helping lead! Check out the calendar on the right (the thing that doesn't fit right on your screen) for the details if you live in the area. Hope to see all two of you who read this blog there!