Lucent
The sows are tightly locked in tiny cages and only allowed to take the slightest step. Factory workers straighten them once a day to prevent paralysis due to limited mobility. Their cramped living quarters can also cause extreme mental distress, producing an arousal so intense that many sows angrily bite into the bars that enslave them, inflicting further damage on themselves in the process.
They endured constant cycles of fertilization and, due to malnutrition and lack of care, were often forced to watch their children die and rot before their eyes. Their bodies were riddled with scars and open wounds of neglect, and their screams echoed and multiplied in every corridor of these chambers. The harrowing images mark the opening of Lucent, a harrowing new documentary that exposes the harsh conditions and unethical practices of Australian pig farms and slaughterhouses. With extensive never-before-seen surveillance and handheld footage shot by a dedicated team of animal rights activists, the film exposes a culture of abuse that has long lain in the shadows.
We’re drawn into the action at fifty different locations, including Riverlea, the largest slaughterhouse in the country, and Wally’s Piggery, the location of some of the most heinous indictments on film. There, cameras filmed pigs being brutally beaten with sledgehammers until they died or lost consciousness, and had their throats slit with knives as they struggled in the throes of a slow death. These brutal practices are far from isolated; in fact, animal cruelty on this scale seems to be standard practice, according to the vast amount of footage obtained by the filmmakers.
By providing straightforward visual evidence of these heinous atrocities, Lucent makes an entirely convincing argument that profound changes are needed in the pig industry and in our own consciousness. After all, pigs are confident animals with strong personalities and intelligence that surpasses man’s best friend, the dog. Why shouldn’t they be given the same level of humane treatment?
