Question about the scenes involving animals.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Midnight Express
Rena_Mahone — 14 years ago(January 15, 2012 07:58 AM)
I liked the movie, however, I was bothered by two scenes involving animal abuse: in one a chicken is killed, in another a cat is seen hung.
Are those scenes real or fake? Because I haven't read anything about it in the trivia section, and this being a 70's movie, I am not sure that those were puppets.
The cat, despite not being shown in close-up, looked like an actual dead cat, and the chicken scene seemed awfully real. Therefore, I'd like to know if such scenes actually involved dead animals, or were just acted.
Serious answers only, thank you.
Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too) -
RichterPN — 14 years ago(March 11, 2012 07:44 AM)
I have no evidence either way regarding this film in particular, but I would guess that the cat was real, obtained dead from the local humane society or pound. And the chicken was probably live, killed for the camera, and shortly thereafter prepared for human consumption, just as was done in multitudes of households in the locale where the film was made.
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Rena_Mahone — 14 years ago(March 13, 2012 02:56 AM)
Thanks to both of you for confirming my suspects.
The chicken scene indeed seemed very real, taking place in a market. It almost looked like the director just caught on camera an actual killing that was happening in the market at the same time.
The cat being "made unconscious" for the movie is also a very upsetting and cruel thing to do, even if he survived.
They could have used either puppets or already dead animals. There's always another choice.
Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too) -
definitedoll — 14 years ago(March 26, 2012 03:51 PM)
They just showed Midnight Express on Antenna TV on Saturday night Twice back to back no less!
I finally got to watch it in its entirety.
The cat scene is no picnic in the park, but i believe that they put the cat under some anesthesia, because when they take him down, he is very supple, and his head just falls. If he was really dead,this would not be happening, rigor mortis would have been long set in. -
calrippin — 10 years ago(August 08, 2015 10:59 PM)
So how many cats do you think are killed every day at the shelters? Hundreds of thousands every day, only about ten to fifteen percent are spared and adopted. And by the way, those other 85-90% that are killed end up in the cheap dog and cat food and treats that have "meat and bone " listed on the lable. NineLives is 20% cats and cats and dogs from the shelters, 20% diseased farm animals that failed inspection and 10% roadkill. The other 50% is garbage.
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eddysl12 — 9 years ago(July 23, 2016 06:46 PM)
The chicken killing looked real. When I was a teenager one of my friend's family raised chickens for meat and I there one day when it was killing time.
The mother took a hatchet and forced the chickens down one at a time and whacked off their heads.
It didn't bother me so much then but now there is no way I would care to watch. I think the more pain and negative experiences you have in your life the more the suffering of any creature of any kind is going to bother you.
You don't really have to kill chickens if times got tough, just eat the eggs that the hens produce.
I knew a guy at work that raised bunnies for meat and I guess they were killed the same way. Jeepers, why kill soft and furry bunnies when you can just buy meat at the supermarket?
Some people I guess just like to kill things. -
eddysl12 — 9 years ago(July 23, 2016 07:01 PM)
I saw this show on PBS about WW2 Britain and how the U.K. government distributed bunnies to the populace. The idea was that the people were suppose to raise them for food.
It turned out that most people saw them as pets and something like 80 to 90 % of the people refused to kill them. Of those who were willing to kill them most of them ended up crying when they tried to eat their cooked bunnies.
Essentially this whole program ended up being a flop. They really should have distributed chickens instead and have them for egg production only.
As we saw with the cat, people in harsh, bleak circumstances like something warm and soft to hang onto. It helps preserve their sanity. Also when death is all around, about the last thing you want is another dead thing to contemplate.