http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2004/u...ult.asp#item11

And a journalist's story:

A story from the Toronto Star:
Festival should pull plug on cat-killing movie
RONDI ADAMSON

Twice this year I have gone to movies I didn't particularly want to see,
because, as a journalist, I figured I may want to write about them. In both
cases, Mel Gibson's Passion Of The Christ and Michael Moore's Fahrenheit
9-11, I did end up writing about them. In both cases I hated the movies.
Similarly, people tell me I should also see Casuistry: The Art Of Killing A
Cat, scheduled as part of the Toronto International Film Festival, before
making a judgment.
No, I don't need to. I can make a judgment. I am willing to make a judgment
right now and stand by it.
The movie is sick, and I hope no one goes to see it.
Better yet, I hope the people at the film festival will come to their senses
and consider pulling it out of their lineup before the festival begins.
The movie, a 90-minute documentary, examines the videotaped skinning alive
of a stray cat at the hands of Jesse Power, Anthony Wennekers and Matt
Kaczorowski in Toronto in 2001 (for which our justice system delivered some
stern slaps on the wrist).
Several justifications have been made for the videotaped torture. One was
that it was some form of art.
Another was that it was a deep commentary on society's cruelty toward
animals.
Apparently, it was actually a pro-kindness to animals video.
Imagine being asked to believe that Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka were
actually making a statement about the wrongs of child rape and murder with
their videos.
A particularly preposterous argument I have heard this week, trying to
justify both the original torture, and Casuistry: The Art Of Killing A Cat,
is that animals are brutalized in slaughterhouses, too.
Even slaughterhouses have standards. And while I'm willing to believe some
don't respect those standards, the standards exist.
Animals that are killed for food are killed as humanely as possible, not
slowly tortured to death by three young men who smirk about it afterwards
and become stars of a movie three years later.
And as 5-year-olds know, two wrongs do not make a right.
A film festival programmer, speaking of the decision to schedule Casuistry:
The Art Of Killing A Cat, said "that's what the festival is all about,
setting the terms for debate, not stifling them." The makers of the movie
say they want to give a "balanced view."
Debate? A balanced view? Of gratuitous cruelty? Of torture?
Of taking pleasure out of the suffering of a living creature?
I guess, being blonde and all, I'm too simple-minded to get how there could
be any matter to debate here. The only balanced view is that the torture of
that cat was a psychotic act.
Many of the news reports concerning both the original video and this
documentary have focused on "animal-rights activists." Or "cat lovers."
I do not think one needs to be either to be utterly outraged and disgusted
by the original "incident" as some have politely termed it, and by the
justifications behind the making of this movie.
You need simply to be normal.
No one is suggesting animals should vote, or buy real estate, but that they
ey
are living creatures who feel fear and pain just as we do.
If it makes a person flaky to know this, then I guess Albert Einstein,
Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw all carried the "flaky" mantle well. This is
not to mention the overwhelming evidence indicating that those who torture
animals will eventually do the same to a human.
The documentary itself will apparently show us how sorry Power, Wennekers
and Kaczorowski are for their actions.
"They really do regret the whole thing," one of the movie's producers has
said. "They're not trying to glorify themselves."
I'm so happy to hear that.
If they are sorry, and not interested in self-glorification or attention,
perhaps they can donate money to animal shelters (provided they stay
kilometres and kilometres away from the animal shelters) in between the
hours and hours of therapy I hope they are getting.
In the meantime, I suggest no one see this movie, or calibrate in order to
excuse it, or give any support to the sickos behind the real story.

Here is the link to the film festival schedule:
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2004/f...sp?pageID=real
toreel&id=54