Animal Liberation Movie

This morning a certain headline grabbed my attention: Indie film ‘Bold Native’ explores the ethos of animal liberation

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches a certain practice called Animal Liberation which he encourages especially for  people who have health problems, to clear up their bad karma from harming other sentient beings. Usually, small critters such as bait worms and crickets are liberated from bait shops and pet stores. They are carried
around a stupa or other holy object while specific prayers and mantras are recited for them. Then they are released into the wild. In the open markets of Asia, live animals such as fish and birds are often sold for human consumption, so these animals could be rescued. In Tibet, it has been a long-held practice to rescue even large livestock marking them as liberated with paint and mantras. On top of the immediate release from slaughter, this traditional practice is also aimed at liberating them from a miserable rebirth.

So this article about animal liberation movie caught my eye. Moreover the lead actor is from Santa Cruz. However, this is a more extreme form of animal liberation as described here:

As the leader of a small cell of animal liberators who call themselves Bold Native (and whom the government are after for millions of dollars in property damage), Charlie’s life and livelihood are dedicated to freeing animals from injustices inflicted upon them by humans. The fiction feature length film follows Charlie, documentary-style, over a two year period as he organizes 35 simultaneous liberation actions—the largest ever coordinated in the decentralized, loosely organized movement known as the Animal Liberation Front, or ALF...

Contemplating the movement’s ethos, the film depicts the full spectrum of animal rights activists through its characters—on one end is Jane, who works within the system to get incremental improvements made at fast food corporations; on the opposite end is Riley, the radical ex-girlfriend who resorts to shocking acts of retaliatory violence. In the middle—the moral compass of the film—are Charlie and his loyal, irreverent and goofy sidekick Sonja (played by endearing up and comer Sheila Vand), who adhere to the ALF’s unwritten law, “Never hurt anyone, animal or human.” 

- Good Times, TUESDAY, 08 FEBRUARY 2011, ELIZABETH LIMBACH  

 What do you think?