10 Recommended Animal Rights Videos

by Stephanie Ernst

Published October 05, 2008 @ 09:28AM PST

Sometimes you have to see to believe. In this post you'll find some of the most compelling, intelligent, and moving animal rights videos currently available, including Earthlings, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix; a stirring speech on behalf of the animals by Dr. Tom Regan; music videos from punk rock band Goldfinger; trailers for the powerful Tribe of Heart documentaries; and a humorous but smart vegan video by Dan Piraro of the comic strip Bizarro, among several others. Read on to see (and watch) what other videos made the list.

1. Earthlings (narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, with music by Moby)

The 2005 award-winning film Earthlings has changed life after life. A comprehensive, feature-length documentary, it examines human dependence on, disrespect for, and cruelty toward nonhuman animals throughout the many human practices and industries that exploit and kill animals for human profit or pleasure. Following are an intro and trailer from the film, plus featurettes from the director. You can watch the full film online for only a few dollars here, and you can purchase a DVD here.

The Earthlings intro (7 minutes)

The Earthlings trailer (3 minutes)

Director’s featurette: The challenge of getting people to watch the film (3 minutes)

Director's featurette 2: What it takes to make a film such as this, including issues surrounding the undercover footage and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (5 minutes)

2. Meet Your Meat (narrated by Alec Baldwin)

Perhaps the most well-known animal rights video in the mainstream, Meet Your Meat is as powerful now as it ever has been. The images are often horrifying, but they are real. If you are still eating animals, you must watch this video. You owe it to yourself—and the animals—to learn the truth, to at least be aware of the implications of human choices and the cruelties and injustices that those choices support and even mandate.

3. Tribe of Heart Previews: Peaceable Kingdom and The Witness

The Tribe of Heart films, like Earthlings, have changed lives with their honest, smart, personal look at animals and the ways they live, feel, think, suffer, and die. The newest version of Peaceable Kingdom, as hopeful and inspiring as it is heartbreaking, will be released soon, and future viewers can sign up for updates on the Tribe of Heart Web site. The Witness, a look at one man’s transformation and determination to educate others and save animals, is available for purchase immediately.

Peaceable Kingdom preview

The Witness preview

4. The Case for an Animal Bill of Rights: Dr. Tom Regan

Featuring a stirring, intelligent, poetic speech by Tom Regan about the philosophies of animal rights, the individuality and sentience of animals, the hearts and intentions of activists, and the principles of justice, nonviolence, respect, and peace, along with complementary images, this video deserves to be watched and listened to.

5. A Life Connected: Vegan. For the People. For the Planet. For the Animals.

Released in 2008 by Nonviolence United, this gentle and intelligent video illuminates the connections among human health and well-being; the problem of world hunger; the health and well-being of the planet as a whole; and the raising, killing, and eating of animals. It is a beautiful, eye-opening production that explains well how vegan living is best not only for animals, but also for humans.

6. The Goldfinger Videos for “Free Me” and “Behind the Mask”

John Feldman of the popular band Goldfinger is not only a musician but also an animal rights activist and vegan. These professional, meaningful music videos are part of his activism.

“Free Me” (with a personal message from John Feldman prior to start of the music video)

“Behind the Mask”

7. The Test of a Civilization (narrated by James Cromwell)

This exposé on animal research features undercover footage of cruel, excruciating medical and product testing, on animals ranging from mice to kittens to chimpanzees; explains what viewers are witnessing; and discusses the unnecessary nature of such torturous procedures.

8. Vegan Video by Dan Piraro of Bizarro

A very proper, pipe-smoking cartoon pig asks, “Are human beings natural meat-eaters?” at the start of this amusing but enlightening cartoon from Dan Piraro, the cartoonist behind the Bizarro comic strip. It’s a handy tool for those “but humans are designed to eat meat” conversations.

9. Alone Against the Rodeo

This 2001 documentary reveals what the filmmakers and passionate animal activist Steve Hindi of SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) found when they visited American rodeos in late 2000. As evidenced by many other undercover SHARK videos, the rodeo is an intensely frightening, painful, dangerous, and even deadly experience for the animals, who are electrically shocked and otherwise tortured to force them into acting wild, so that they can then be terrorized further by their human abusers in the arena.

10. 45 Days in Hell: Life and Death of a Broiler Chicken

Many people who have eschewed the flesh of cattle and pigs still eat chicken and turkey, thinking it less cruel. But in fact, birds raised and killed for human consumption suffer tremendously—certainly as much as and arguably even more than other animals. This Compassion Over Killing (COK) production, a result of an undercover investigation, shows what really happens in the industry, from the time the baby birds emerge from eggs to the time they are slaughtered.