Product Details

• Actors: n, a
• Directors: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Icarus Films
• DVD Release Date: January 13, 2009
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001N3R8WG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,976 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Our Daily Bread" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hi-tech grub, May 8, 2009

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Our Daily Bread (DVD)

I found this a highly unusual and visually fascinating documentary about primary food production, both animal and vegetable. The lack of any sort of commentary initially annoyed me because so much of what is shown raises the question: what's going on here but after a while I found I was settling down to the rhythm of the editing. The way director Geyrhalter places the camera and then just lets it roll will grow on you. Even where there is some fast machinery the shot is invariably a static one of the equipment.

The documentary looks at fruit and vegetable production and collection, animal husbandry of chickens, cows, pigs and nicely I thought, fish farming plus a visit to a salt mine. The most eye opening thing to me was the amount of mechanization involved in food production though it seemed that the equipment had been designed to work most efficiently when the fruit, animals or fish were standard sizes. Despite the huge investment in equipment on these European farms (or plants) it was still cost effective to employ shift-workers.

There are some quirky scenes: several of workers having a break, eating or having a cigarette (these were just long static shots looking at the person); spraying everything in a slaughter house with some sort of foam (a detergent maybe) digging small holes in mounts on a field and either planting or collecting something. I would have thought an occasional black strip across the bottom of the screen with a white caption would not have hurt the integrity of the movie and helped the viewer.

Despite what others might say I found nothing shocking in the movie. This usually refers to animal slaughter but it is done in a simple straightforward way with machinery doing most of the work and rather intriguingly everything shown involving animals is done at a reasonable speed in these factories.

The movie concentrates on primary food production and not the industrial creation of processed food...maybe that's Geyrhalter's next assignment. Overall a very impressive and visually remarkable look at the subject and one of those documentaries that is certainly worth seeing more than once.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shocked and speechless, April 27, 2009

By 

J. Kim (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Our Daily Bread (DVD)

Just like the previous review, I am shocked to find that there is only one review for this incredible film. The fact that there is no voice over makes this film that much more powerful. One of the most significant films I watched this year. Watch this film- it will be 1.5hrs you spent meaningfully. It opened my eyes. I am deeply grateful to the filmmakers.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful movie!!, April 7, 2009

By 

Tom G. Gambill "Tom G" - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Our Daily Bread (DVD)

I was shocked when I looked up this movie and didn't see any reviews. I saw this last year and was just mesmerized as I watched it. In many places, it is silent and yet the images it creates are powerful and perplexing. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone, it makes a great companion to Schlosser's Fast Food Nation or SuperSize Me.