Rheview #6 Dominion (2018): Cruelty in Superiority

Welcome back!~

Okay so it's been a long time that I haven't review any movie.. Maybe,, it has been 2 months? I guess? sorry for that..

Well, yesterday I watched Dominion which published in 2018. It is about,, umm, I don't know... I think this was a project to support vegetarian or maybe they were just really wanted to ban animal usage in everyday life. Let's just start the rheview, shall we?

Plot

First of all, do not--I repeat it--DO NOT tricked by its cute poster. This two-hours-violently-animal-abuse documentary-movie can make you sick, whether by its visual disturbing footages or by knowing the fact that other people, as the same human being, can be so cruel to another species. Although the poster only shows cow on it, the abuse consisted of almost every animal, especially livestock, such as pigs, chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep, etc.

Well, anyway, my first thought when I watched this movie was I really want to become a vet. I just want to go there, and rescued all of those helpless creatures. Yeah, it was crazy and nonsense, but at least, I could be one of the kind to fight for their rights. They only have souls, but their freedom was confiscated. They lived as an object for human. They cannot express their natural habitat, cannot eat what they want, cannot mating, cannot spread their wings, or even cannot stand on their own feet. They had to live in a crowded place, and sometimes with their inmates' corpses that cannot be managed to survive.

I had to hate technologies (well actually the people who abuse that tech), especially genetic engineering that modified chick's skin color, so they can sort valuable-soon-to-be hen from a bunch of unwanted male chick. Those male chicks cannot even manage aged to 3 days since their fate is on the macerator. What about the female chicks? Were they on the good fate? Haha, not a bit. They had to grow really fast, that their own legs cannot even carry their body anymore. They got an abnormal gait, or if they were not lucky enough, they were tumbled, overthrown, and dying. They also need to live with their own wastes, which produce ammonia that toxic to their respiratory and integument system.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HUMAN?

Many of these footages showed us how this industry process those animals in the last minute of their lives: they got shot, electrocuted, kicked, punched, everything! Those workers even laughing in front of those scared and dying animals. I don't get it why those kinds of "torture" assessed as humane and ethical by the government or relevant stakeholders. This kind of show can make you seriously ill, or even vomit, or even being a vegan. Please consider this before you watch this movie. I even don't recommend this movie if you cannot bear persecution. In the first hour, I need to pause every 10 minutes to restore my guts. The next hour was not that disturbing because the footages were not that much so the detailed torture was missing.

Well, maybe those workers already resistance to those environments and they don't have any other job options to do, so they stick with this condition, and eventually enjoyed it. They also get paid by the number of animals they "treat", not by "hour", so they really want to do their job fast, without thinking about animals' feelings. Maybe it's too fast to judge them having a psychological disorder, but guys, seriously, if you think that is funny to torture animals, then you might have a problem with your brain.

The most sadistic part is the duck part. Duck is actually an aquatic animal, but the farms didn't consist of even a single puddle on it. Those ducks cannot do their natural swimming session, or even drown their head so their eyes were not burnt. In addition, eighty to ninety percent of those species have an abnormal gait because they were not supposed to be standing for 7 months inland. They need to rest a bit by floating in the water.

What loses my brain even further is knowing the fact that in China, many children taught to do this abusive behavior to continue the legacy.

Am I a vegan now? How about the other-than-food industry that also uses animals on it?

If this movie intended to make its viewers vegan, well, they failed. As a doctor, I know proteins from animals have many essential amino acids that beneficial to our bodies. And I really hope Indonesia was different and the Indonesian food industry gave their animals a good quality of life. So, I really beg you, if you know a good barn documentary film, please tell me so I can watch it and make a review about it. We need to restore faith in humanity... I know advance technology can also improve the health quality of animals, so they can live happily as a partner of the industry.

In addition, this movie also showed us abuse in the fashion or entertainment industry that used animals on it, for example, rabbit fur for hat or rodeo using horses or bulls. And this example makes me really disappointed in myself that I ever watched a dolphin show in the zoo, that actually torture them, as they cannot travel long enough, or even communicate with their pods.

Technical aspects

They set a good camera angle so the scene taking makes us feel like we're really inside the cage and feel the terrible treatment from the human. The font is perfect, it suits the movie well. The background song is well enough to at least comfort us when the scene changing the species.

The downside of this movie is actually I got bored with broiler chicken, turkeys, and ducks, as their fate was actually the same. They had to eat until their body can't bear it anymore, and then slaughtered prior to the stunning machine. I know the concept is to tell us species by species, but that monotonous show was not really enjoyable since we already know their fate down the line.

If you watch this using the English subtitle, you can learn many new vocabularies! Don't miss this opportunity to learn in-depth knowledge of farm vocabs.

Trivia question

If you had watched this movie, who is your favorite narrator? Mine is Joaquin Phoenix as his deep voice really deepens the problems and makes us go "unconsciously" through the movie.

So, what is Dominion?

After watched the entire movie, we know that humans always have a superiority complex that makes them think they can do anything towards others who are inferior to them. As a side effect, they can act so cruel to show their superiority. 

Rate: 8/10. This should be rhecommended, but I'm afraid your soft-hearted feelings cannot withstand those slaughters. If you don't want to watch this, then don't be the one who makes those industries work.