Should be watched by everyone in the US and to people who want to know more about how animals are treated, as the things that happen in this film happen all over the world.

I was originally pleased to read that Earthlings was part of a planned trilogy. Dismay, however, set in - tremendously judgmental as I am being, having only watched the two-minute trailer for Unity (2015) - that the latter film appeared to be a celeb bandwagon of diluted, optimistic mush which, for me, only served to highlight the gaping power and impact of Earthlings still further.Perhaps Shaun and Joaquin knew that if they could just dish up that high-calibre cast of one-line droppers over ever-present soft warm chords and reams of global footage, then they would ultimately broaden the audience of the first installment: yes, a wider audience to watch Earthlings. Watching Earthlings is a gnawing necessity. You and I know this. As one film quote notes, 'Everyone who sees Earthlings tells three people'...And, of course, every being wants 'unity' (or at least survival, food and shelter). A bit of harmony along the way would be nice too. Can't argue with that. And so, if 99 minutes of warm chords, tears, smiles, bombs and prayers (which repeatedly left me wondering 'When is this extended airline advertisement's signature slogan coming?', or, 'This is one drawn-out UN charity disaster appeal!'), if it results in more people watching Earthlings, WELL BLOODY DONE to the filmmakers.

After seeing this I better understood the horrors men inflict on each other. Each film section - animal domestication, food, clothing, etc. - illustrates the theme of men's boundless arrogance and entitlement. There is an insanity in the workers directly involved, how could there not be? I felt compassion for them. There is second global insanity of humans not looking which I also understand. The scale of this suffering can not be taken in. Not only do we ignore the suffering, we take our sustenance from it and adorn ourselves in it. It makes the callousness to the genocide, starvation, and suffering of our fellow human beings understandable.No talking heads, statistics, historical context. It makes its point with undercover, raw footage of the animals in the factory system. It is nearly unbearable and not appropriate for children.

The documentary is definitely a must watch (hence the 7/10 rating) and it certainly contributed to changing my attitude regarding meat consumption.However it must be said that its stance when it comes to experiments on living animals has a fair bit of flawed reasoning and misrepresents facts. It suggests that animal testing leads to wrong conclusions (that this is the norm, not the exception) and suggests that clinical investigation is the ONLY valid kind of investigation while experiments on animals are an "insult to true science".REALLY?! these statements are completely false; What would our understanding of biology/medicine be in the absence of model organisms like mice, macaques, fruit flies or nematodes to work on? What would our understanding of genetically-predisposed disorders and their treatment be in the absence of transgenic model organisms? Besides most experiments on animals are conducted in humane conditions and surgery is generally done under anesthesia. How can such basic/translational science research that is conducted under the approval of ethics committees be dealt with on the same level as slaughter of animals for food? their stance on experiments on living animals therefore is miseducating/misinforming to an often naive public and an unwarranted villanization of animal research which has had bad repercussions and lead to vandalism in the past.