On “The Circular Glance” and Mother’s Day
May 5, 2011
I can’t say enough about this short film, the vast majority of which contains no graphic images. I think it’s well done and suspenseful and hits home a point especially important with Mother’s Day upon us. I’m curious to hear what you think about the story, the execution and the graphic images.
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Stephanie Ernst
Marji
Kelly G.
Deb
Mary Martin
I stopped watching too late. Thank God for pollen season so I can explain away the red, teary eyes.
Did you stop when they were getting out? My thought was that that was where it could have ended. But I suppose the argument is that many people need the subsequent images. (Plus you need to circle back if you want to call it the circular glance.)
If you didn’t finish, those images are just a couple of moments, and then (SPOILER ALERT) it circles back to mom in the grocery store in the meat section, and then back to the breakfast scene that began the film.
I knew where it was leading but I stopped after they got out of the truck. I hate that I can’t bear to look anymore. I still try and always end up crying and upset for days. It makes me angry and I want to scream at people in Whole Foods.
I did go back to the very end, as you described. It’s a really powerful, well-filmed piece.
Intense! Yes, I cried too – And watched entirely as the creators had intended. The message is unmistakable in any language. To have empathy… To live with compassion.
I hope others see what I did… The desperation of the mother and father on the beach, helpless to defend their children. The absolute confusion, fear and terror the kids faced while being transported. I saw the woman on the phone as being their last hope… The woman is US – The public that is so absorbed in the moment that they stay removed from the problem.
I love all the parallels – Everything works! There’s no way anyone could watch this without drawing the connections. And if they are the ones portrayed as the “child/calf stealers”, my wish is that they open their hearts and sincerely question their choices.
It is both sad and beautiful… Thanks for finding this!
Oh… And a Super Happy Mother’s Day too! ;)
Loved it! Thanks for posting it.
What a noble, creative, gentle, convincing way of awakening the fast-asleep world to its refusal to make the connection between us and them.
Yes, Bea, the last woman on the phone, paying no attention to her daughter or to the children’s cries for help, was the typical too-busy-chattering-about-nothing consumer: “US.”
It was sad that her young daughter had already become an unempathetic zombie. She was curious about the sounds in the trailer but was unable to recognize or relate to the desperation of her fellow children.
I couldn’t help but think of all the 4H and FFA youngsters who devote their time and energy and care to raising a calf or piglet or lamb for a year, only to be forced to suppress their feelings come show time/slaughter time.
How sickening it would feel to be an innocent human child coerced into betraying my equally innocent animal “child,” who had depended on my loyal devotion for her sustenance, for companionship. What a mockery of truth and life and love. These animal ag clubs are certainly not teaching not husbandry or education; rather, adultery and brainwashing.
In the video “The Emotional World of Farm Animals” (http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-emotional-world-of-farm-animals) one of the most poignant moments is when Christie, a teenage girl, breaks down (at the 37-min mark) over having to relinquish her beloved cow Ferdinand after the fair, knowing he would be murdered and she could do nothing to stop it.
I hope this gripping film reaches far and wide — and deep into human hearts. I will do my best to promote it. (I’ll warn about the graphic part, since I couldn’t watch it myself.)
It’s unfortunate that most people who should watch this will not do so.