Lucent

Lucent

2014, Environment  -   88 Comments
8.94
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Ratings: 8.94/10 from 179 users.

The mother pigs are rigidly confined within a cage so constrictive that it only allows for the faintest of single steps. Once a day, they are beaten upright by factory workers to ensure that paralysis doesn't set in due to their lack of mobility. Their tight living quarters also inspire extreme mental anguish, producing an agitation so profound that many sows have resorted to furiously biting the bars that enslave them, perpetuating further injury upon themselves in the process.

They endure a constant cycle of impregnation, and due to malnourishment and lack of proper care, they are often forced to watch their babies die and decompose before them. Their bodies are streaked with the scars and open festers of neglect, and their screams echo and multiply down every corridor of these chambers of horror. These harrowing images mark the opening of Lucent, a shattering new documentary that sheds much-needed light on the unseemly environments and unethical practices of Australia's pig farms and slaughterhouses. Featuring a wealth of never-before-seen surveillance and handheld footage captured by a devoted team of animal rights activists, the film reveals a culture of abuse that has remained hidden in the shadows for far too long.

We're taken inside the operations of fifty assorted locations, including Riverlea, the largest slaughterhouse in the country, and Wally's Piggery, the setting for some of the film's most damning indictments. There, cameras capture pigs being savagely beaten with sledgehammers until rendered dead or unconscious, and serrated by knives at the neck, left struggling in the throes of slow death. These barbaric practices are far from isolated; in fact, the abundance of footage obtained by the filmmakers reveals that animal cruelty of this magnitude appears to be standard operating procedure.

By presenting unblinking visual evidence of these repugnant cruelties, Lucent offers a thoroughly convincing argument that profound change needs to take place within the pig farming industry and within our own consciousness. After all, pigs are self-aware animals with distinct personalities, and an intelligence that surpasses that of man's best friend, the dog. Why shouldn't they be afforded the same level of humane treatment?

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B
B
4 years ago

God said not to eat pigs.

Demonickey
Demonickey
5 years ago

All I could think about was bacon and pork chops.

Barry
Barry
6 years ago

Being a mammal and having the physical requirements that allow us the ability to eat meat has absolutely nothing to with how we treat animals and is absolutely no justification for it. Perhaps we are designed to eat meat but does that mean we should allow sentient beings to be abused for the entirety of their life before being brutally slaughtered?
As for the question of existence and death, that point is irrelevant given that these animals DO NOT have a choice. And even if they did, yeah I'm pretty sure they'd choose not to exist. As probably you would as well.

DustUp
DustUp
6 years ago

I've heard several complain over the years that organic food is too expensive. Is it? Seems to me it is cheap compared to health insurance and/or doctor visits. Haven't been to a doctor in many years since eliminating grain and sugar from my diet.

DustUp
DustUp
6 years ago

I don't know if corn is suitable in large amounts for other farm animals either. I would guess small amounts are ok. But not just any corn, which is GMO (internalized pesticide) corn. Organic feed is the way to go. However, it would seem wiser to feed what grows naturally in your area.

DustUp
DustUp
6 years ago

Last I read, many years ago, there are 16 stomach types. In the encyclopedia or unabridged dictionary or info source I was looking in at the time, it showed outline drawings of these stomach types. There was a stark difference in many of those. This is why two people can eat the exact same meal, one can get bloated up gassy while the other has no repercussions.

Once I gave up grains and went organic for meat and vegetables, I lost weight and felt MUCH better. Looking at my ancestry, this made perfect sense. Yes I was using organic grains prior as well. I would expect that if certain other humans with more of a grain processing stomach had only meat to eat they would feel / do poorly as well.

If you buy meat at a corporate store or many others who have a similar supplier, you will get meat from animals thathave been fed the WRONG food. This makes the meat something you shouldn't be eating. GMO grain is wrong for any animal. Corn is wrong for beef animals, yet they feed it to them in the large feed lots and pump them full of antibiotics to help them tolerate it. Corn has a 5 carbon structure where most other vegetation has a 4 carbon structure. Even with 4 stomachs the beef animals cannot deal with the amount of corn fed to them. Why do they feed them corn? Because it is typically cheaper since subsidized (socialism-corportism [central planning]).

If you watch documentaries like "Forks over knives" you will think meat is the problem. For them it is. But what kind of meat? GMO meat, feedlot meat, corporate meat. Did they study people on good small farm organically grown meat or the ESKIMOS; the ones who live far away from the garbage food, booze, and lifestyle of "civilization"? Such anti meat "studies" always leave out the remote Eskimos who are quite healthy and live mostly on meat. How long will that remain the case with Japan nuclear polluting the ocean? It will only be a matter of time before they start getting cancers like the rest of us.

Corporatism (greedy vermin hiding behind corporate banners large enough to buy politicians or run their own candidates) is the main problem of the age, be it agriculture, animal production, or polluting industries including nuclear.

Socialists desire to confuse and misguide people into thinking Corporatism is Capitalism, it is not at all. Corporatism THRIVES under Socialism. They get bigger and stronger due to less competition caused by the incrementally increasing Socialism in the western countries.

Years ago, western countries had a plethora of small farms. Not every small farm was a panacea of great conditions but for the most part they were good and food supply was affordable and healthy.

When you buy food at a large corporate run store, they don't want to deal with a bunch of small farmers, they want to deal with as few big farms as possible, quite simply because they are lazy and it is easier for them to manage. If you decide to seek out small farms who do things as you desire, then more of those will pop up. That is how it works, it is all up to YOU. Do you want to be healthy? Do you want your kids to be healthy? Then quit buying food not fit to eat.

Now if doctors were as smart as they think they are, they would scan people for their stomach type and probably intestine type as well. Then prescribe a diet compatible with those types of innards. The pharmaceutical nonsense of today is literally prescribing poison to make a person well. How smart is that?

Yet everywhere at every time we are told to listen to these know nothing much worthwhile "experts". Govt only contracts with these same type of mis-educated types and hires them for their govt indoctrination "schools" and so we all have to suffer for it while the socialists-corporatists sing all the way to the bank.

How so many still believe govt is their friend when all the evidence is to the contrary is mind boggling. It just demonstrates the power of propaganda and so much of it in the govt indoctrination "schools".

Govt allows all the nefarious activity and cruelty by their cronies in the corporate world. Has it gotten worse? Yes. Has govt become more socialism than capitalism? Yes. Has those govt schools been teaching socialism is great and capitalism is evil? Yes. So like always, who is the REAL problem? You. You send your children to indoctrination centers and they understandably come out emotionalized and Marxist. They are understandably upset at all the evil they see. Their egos cannot let them see that they are creating that evil.

Vote with your feet and your money. Vote for the health of everything: Food, govt, family, borders, language, culture. Otherwise you will see all these crumble just as the banksters and the elite desire, for THEIR benefit, which means you under their thumb. Turn off their propaganda being the TV and their [fake] news. Please!

Tristan
Tristan
6 years ago

May all beings be happy.

Ron
Ron
7 years ago

At the end of the day, seeing living things truly suffer really, really bugs me. For how "advanced" we are I often think there has to be a better way to this and alot of things happening

Ron
Ron
7 years ago

There are many alternatives to meat products that aren't similar to these "farms" at all and what you eat is a personal choice. I eat meat, but not all types and very careful about raising, feed, slaughter etc. This is a strong stomach doc, there are many like it and worse ones. Feather products as well ...Which is something that boggles my mind. You'll have some meat protester speaking their mind in a coat lined with feathers plucked from suffering live ducks or other similar animals. We are the animals outta control. The 67/68 million pigs in the US in 2007 for 360 million people ...Those numbers, all of them are quite staggering. Hormone, steroid, biproduct etc are not the answers either. I might not know a total solution but alot of practical solutions would be thwarted due to lack of profits etc. Like any other industry or corporation in this money driven world we live in. I could be speaking late night, over doc watched jibberish tho lol

billy bob
billy bob
7 years ago

you all suck. eat meat everyday

Enya Zhang
Enya Zhang
7 years ago

@Fabien L'Amour
Take African mothers for example. In some countries a mother has an average of 5-6 children who live in hunger. Does contraception hurt anyone's right of "existence"? If you look at it, it is exactly "too many children" that leads to aggregated poverty.

I'm not sure of it is feasible in reality for everyone to eat happy-bred animals' meat. Intensive cultivation exists for a reason: less area, less money put in growing animals. So I personally choose to quit eating meat, and no matter the strong advocacy lies in "vegetarianism" or "animal welfare", we need to oppose the kind of cruel breeding in this movie.

Jeffrey Norris
Jeffrey Norris
7 years ago

They shouldn't have to have an existence of only suffering. I think pigs should be in charge. I'm sure we'd all live better. Man is doing a HORRIBLE job!! We suck.

Rob
Rob
7 years ago

Mankind disgusts me more and more.

Gali
Gali
7 years ago

great movie!!

Wendy
Wendy
7 years ago

As a non meat eater, I just cannot bring myself to watch this. It would torment my brain, and as someone who suffers depression, I just can't take the cruelty/ torture/ abuse these poor innocent animals suffer, just so a human can have the pleasure of eating them. I feel better about myself since having quit eating meat. I am not helping make them suffer, just to have a few minutes taste, then go sit on the toilet! Animals feel fear, have emotions, and they deserve better.
Earthlings was enough. So sad, and I'm ashamed to be human, the way humans treat these poor creatures.
Sickening.

JohnS Teleosus
JohnS Teleosus
8 years ago

This is all I have to say: as for eating meat, humans have been eating meat for 100s of thousands of years. There are some very viable theories that support the possibility that eating meat may have been a significant contributing factor to human's rise in intelligence.
If you chose to not eat meat, for moral, health, or other reasons, I respect your choice. But to put down those who do chooose to eat meat is ludicrous and unrealistic IMO.
That being said, treating all animals (including humans) with respect and dignity should always be a priority in society.

kelly
kelly
8 years ago

heartbreaking and disturbing how those cruel nasty people can get away with that

Myathewolfeh
Myathewolfeh
8 years ago

My jaw dropped when they just ground up the male chicks alive. How the hell is this allowed after so much of it has been filmed? We need to take back control of these industries. If they can't kill or raise humanely then they shouldn't be allowed to have any part in it.

Dana Hamilton
Dana Hamilton
8 years ago

I think we should treat the farmers just like they treat their animals.There should be livestock inspectors, where the hell are they? not doing their job that's for sure! They are nothing more than scum bags!!!!! if you are caught treating animals like that,you should not be allowed to own any!!!!!!!!ASSHOLES!!!!!!!!!

aniko
aniko
8 years ago

Thank you for the people who had the stomach and bravery to create this documentary for people like me! I advice to every single one of you to watch this! Lucent has to give us the light towards better decisions!!! It has got to me...

Adam
Adam
8 years ago

I am completely fine with people being disgusted about the techniques practiced by the 'processed meat' industry, but you can't just say 'STOP IT ALL!!!'

We literally have hundreds of millions of people in THIS COUNTRY that need food, let alone the billions around the world.

It's not realistic to think that we will be able to support all of them on non-industrial style farming. Again, I do NOT want the abuse to continue, it's barbaric and makes me want to not eat pork ever again, but I WILL eat pork again regardless, so we need another solution.

Unfortunately I'm not smart enough to know what that solution is.

Monika
Monika
8 years ago

Going vegan may not be the only answer to this, but at least you'll be able to sleep at night knowing your hard earned money isn't funding these hell holes. No animal deserves this. Stop supporting these industries purely for the sake of your tastebuds.

FollowTheFacts
FollowTheFacts
8 years ago

...I finally watched...I had waited quite a while, thinking I "knew" what I was in for...does it really have to be this way, I'm wondering – it doesn't have to be this way, I'm thinking...I gave this amazing work 9...
"The pigs were spooked by the activists" was a comment...you don't say...give me a break...

southab403
southab403
8 years ago

Well, that was a very disturbing and emotionally impacting documentary. Although I abhor the factory farming inhumane methods used to raise animals to provide humans with protein, I wonder where the vegans and vegetarians are going to get their protein?

Quinoa or Soy? Those crops (soy mostly via Montesano) have stripped vast areas of south America and sent the Indigenous people into corporate slavery by paying big bucks for cash crops, enticing them to put their efforts into the crop and ignore the mundane aspect of farming for sustenance. After all, the new supermarket and fast food/gas stops have all kinds of tasty and addicting foods that the new radio/TV/Internet coverage encourages us to eat. (Join the new century... we want pizza (what is pizza)?!)

It's all fine for a person to declare that they are going vegan, but where are you going to get the necessary proteins and lipids that your body needs for growth and repair? What ARE you going to eat, especially if you're trying to eat locally.
Lentils and beans are a great alternative, except that they can grow on the marginal lands that are home to vast quantities of wild-life. Kill, displace the wildlife? Nudge them out while complaining that while living in your tiny home in the wilderness that coyotes eat your Chihuahua?

Good soil and climate for growing food is limited. In the very northern parts of Canada, there are NO root vegetable that will grow, limited raised beds for shallow, fast growing summer crops in a greenhouse.

Now-a-days we get choices year round by flying produce from one climactic zone to another, one hemisphere to another. It was much more limited when I was growing up. We really had little choice other than to eat local.
A person can decide to be a vegan in this present society only because of the vast network of food distribution that has come about by globalization. For a vegan to turn around and attack the society has fed them, nurtured them and allowed them to exercise their freedom of choice is being very short-sighted.
Think about it!! What could you grow on your little parcel of land that would feed you for an entire year?? How about if you had an acre, a hector, a section or two??
City folk, where do you think your food comes from? I'm reminded of a person in a large city who found a BUG in her organically grown lettuce and freaked. What do you expect?
We all have to eat. Spay your pets and don't breed.

ModernCrusader
ModernCrusader
8 years ago

Have faith that God will give justice to these pigs and the persons responsible will pay in front of the universe.

steamknife
steamknife
8 years ago

Now my beloved meat tastes bitter. I am offended on the way my food is being treated!

Loxley Smithett
Loxley Smithett
8 years ago

I had my bacon for breakfast. Then I watched this documentary. Now my bacon breakfast is all over the floor. Great documentary.

Chris S
Chris S
9 years ago

How could any sane person still want to eat meat after watching this? Even if they don't care about animals, wanting to ingest something that's been raised in filth and disease is crazy - no better than wanting to eat a rat found in a sewer.

jaim57
jaim57
9 years ago

This could benefit from a good film editor.

Alistair Chapman
Alistair Chapman
9 years ago

This is simply Auschwitz for other species.

Adam
Adam
9 years ago

I watched about 30 minutes & had to stop. Poor animals! This documentary almost made me cry. From now on, I will only eat meat from organic farms

wasabikam
wasabikam
9 years ago

I became a vegan six months ago. Why, you ask? I watched another documentary that's available on this site called Earthlings. It's changed a lot of people's minds about using animals for human consumption (food; clothes; household, health, and beauty products; entertainment). In fact, Earthlings is referred to as "The Vegan-maker."

techcafe
techcafe
9 years ago

the most ethical & responsible thing we could do is: stop eating meat. it's healthier for humans and the planet too. but these industries are too powerful, so the slaughter and savage cruelty of CAFOs will continue unabated.

Neil Mcginnis
Neil Mcginnis
9 years ago

hard to watch this.... without getting furious. I only eat properly raised animals from small local farms.

Jack
Jack
9 years ago

Well I think if there breaking the law shut them down with a 3 strike policy. I love a nice juicy steak hence I raise and slaughter my own from Cattle, Sheep, Pigs and Chicken. I have never been sick and all the animals went from paddock to plate, no stress on the animal or me or my 2 beautiful daughters or their 3 kids that all live and participate in this ritual slaughtering.

skoumas
skoumas
9 years ago

Why humanity? Why? Im so tired of this s*it

revengestar
revengestar
9 years ago

I will not visit Australia as a protest against what is happening in this documentary!!!

Sir Baby De Porky
Sir Baby De Porky
9 years ago

A bunch of despicable scum ...

Between torturing / eating animals , and doing the same to humans in a pinch , there is only a small step that these barbarians may cross !!!

Lea Wiggins
Lea Wiggins
9 years ago

Bravo Todd! I admire your stand. While I see that others disagree, (which is certainly fine), we ALL must take the action that EACH of us sees as a possible solution.

Personally, I think the only thing that big business understands is hitting them in the pocketbook. They pay attention to that!

I was raised on a farm and we raised swine, big lots with lots of space. My father had a half of a boxcar turned upside down, as a shelter when the sows had their litters.

When they birthed in the winter, my mom and my older brother, and myself would go out and use pieces of old blankets to wipe the babies down so they would not freeze to death.

These actions are barbaric, they need to be stopped.
One woman's opinion...

Todd Morrow
Todd Morrow
9 years ago

This is the day, today, after watching this, that I became a vegan for good. I just threw out all my meat, dairy and eggs and will never give another dollar to these industries.

dewflirt
dewflirt
9 years ago

Not for the faint of heart, nor those that enjoy a BLT. There are many reasons that people choose not to eat meat, part of the reason I don't is that I'm not sure there can be anything healthy about eating something so unhealthy. If you can't afford to eat clean meat, you probably eat too much meat. Now I'm going to wait and see how long it is before someone tells me all that's wrong with being a veggie - vore. And that carrots have feeling too ;)

Mari
Mari
9 years ago

You probably shed a tear or looked away in horror and hours later salivated at the thought of a bacon half pounder burger. Does that make you a hypocrite? Not really. It makes you a mammal. I want to be able to eat meat without thinking that this steak that I am having cried in vain for some space and sunlight. Being a vegetarian is the wrong answer to this problem. The answer is DO eat meat. But only meat that comes from farms of happy animals, animals that can mate, build their own nests and get slaughtered by the people who raised and loved them. Avoid all mass produced meat and anything you can get from a chain store. Get your meat from local farmers. Being a vegetarian is so passive... being a happy-meat eater is far more proactive.

weezyhead
weezyhead
9 years ago

i wanna write a story of this using those pigs as people to show that animals too have emotions just like humans do.

margie
margie
9 years ago

Such sad defeated looking eyes.....

margie
margie
9 years ago

I don't know if I can watch all of this. I am a vegetarian and an activist for the inhuman treatment of circus animals. Our abusive treatment of animals is everywhere you find these creatures. Thank God for people like Lyn White.

Larry Dean Moore
Larry Dean Moore
9 years ago

Livestock humanitarianisms will only decrease as the human population grows. Deal with it or do something about the need for more food.

joelle schachter
joelle schachter
9 years ago

I had to stop watching when it shifted to other animals it was too much for me ,i eat chicken sometimes after watching this even that i will not do anymore it is hard to say but thank you to the people who did this documentary ,very hard work eventhough i have watch documentary about this subject this one showed me a deeper level i did not know existed