“World Without Cows”
(USA)
Letterboxd (3/5), Imdb.com (6/10), TMDB.com (6/10), Imdb.com critics review
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Here’s a question you probably haven’t been asked recently (if ever): When was the last time you thought about cows? Chances are it came when biting into a juicy burger or drinking a cold glass of milk. But have your thoughts ever gone beyond that? Probably not. And that’s the intent behind this documentary from award-winning former journalists Brandon Whitworth and Michelle Michael. The film seeks to show how much our bovine companions are taken for granted and, in some cases, disproportionately blamed for some of the world’s ills, such as global warming and poor health. But are these oversights and criticisms justified? Through this globe-trotting release, the filmmakers present some eye-opening revelations about cows. They show how valuable these creatures are in terms of the economic well-being of households in such locales as India and Kenya. They detail the role that properly managed cows can play in facing the challenge of learning how to produce more food for an ever-increasing global population threatened by declining agricultural resources, especially the growing “worldwide protein deficiency” and its harmful negative impact. And, ironically enough, they examine how cows can even help to promote practices of “restorative agriculture,” the promising discipline of helping to produce more and better food supplies (and not just beef) and to help the environment recover from often-underrated devastating ecological conditions like soil erosion. The picture also helps dispel overblown myths, such as the impact of cows’ methane production on climate change – a mere fraction (roughly 2.6%) of what’s being caused by fossil fuel use (a whopping 70%). Moreover, the picture explores some of the solutions being pursued through research programs in the UK, Ireland, Singapore and the American heartland to address the foregoing problems, challenges that, if left ignored, could be too big to conquer and lead to disastrous consequences. However, as all well and good as this might sound, the film’s execution in imparting this information frequently leaves something to be desired. For instance, the treatment of these ideas is sometimes surprisingly shallow, providing viewers with scattershot insights but not necessarily with any meaningful depth. Considerable emphasis is also placed on the need for all of humanity to cooperate in bringing about suggested solutions, although precious little attention is devoted to how these various remedies are to coalesce in devising a comprehensive effort. And, to be honest, as important a role that cows can play in these initiatives, they’re frankly only part of the solution, that other components of reconciliation are involved and just as vital. Admittedly, the filmmakers’ intents here appear to be genuinely sincere, and it’s heartening to see the exaggerated fallacies about cows getting suitably debunked. However, I didn’t come away from this offering feeling significantly more enlightened than when I went in. The bits and pieces served up are informative and interesting, but they’re often far from compelling. And, as a former journalist myself, I was disappointed that the former journalists who made this film didn’t tell their story more effectively, one that they gave a big buildup without comparable follow-through. Ironically, an old adage in advertising circles maintains that those who work in this field need to “sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Yet it’s paradoxical that both of these commodities aren’t incorporated sufficiently enough in a picture that deals with, of all things, cows. Indeed, a “World Without Cows” might make us all worse off in the end. But the dire implications of failing to adequately inform viewers about this issue – and to better educate them about the solutions required to bring about meaningful change – seem to be too important to be conveyed in a less-than-absorbing way, and that’s what keeps this release from living up to the potential that it might have otherwise had.