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Documentary Film – Live and Let Live

by Jennie Richards · Published February 17, 2016 · Updated April 13, 2019

Live and Let Live is a feature documentary that explores our relationship with animals and the ethical, environmental and health reasons that motivate people to become vegan. It investigates that awakening moment when people realize they need to stop eating animals and the film shows the impact the decision has had on their lives.

For Ria and Hendrik, the moment is in a university history class discussing slavery – and seeing the parallel between human slaves and keeping animals enslaved for our benefit. They felt the injustice of animal slavery – and saw that the injustice of forcing, confining and killing animals against their will – was no different than that of human slavery.

For Karin Mück, a former dairy farmer, she saw the deep bond between mother and calf and realized she was responsible for breaking their bond, by raising dairy cows for milk. She hit a point, where she could not see her farm animals as commodities and machines any longer for profit, and instead saw their sentience and suffering. She had compassion for them, and became vegan.

Kati Kosler, a young student, became vegan after watching a film about factory farming at school, and after reading some books, discovered how all animals raised for food were being exploited, tortured and slaughtered – often while fully conscious. She could no longer accept contributing to the suffering of animals for food.

Some Quotes from the Film:

“You can’t silence a movement.” ~ Henrik

“Sentience is the bedrock of ethics … The ability to feel things is the reason we have moral systems and ethics. Pain is felt no differently between animals and humans.” ~ Jonathan Balcombe

“We got rid of slavery, but we have something similar to another class of beings, who have the same interests as people do.” ~ Peter Singer

“I stopped using animal rights, when meat producers started using the term. I started using ‘Abolition’ instead. We should be promoting the abolition of the exploitation. It doesn’t matter whether they have the best lives in the world, killing the animal so you can eat the animal, wear the animal, use the animal – is just wrong. The bottom line is – you have a life, so do they.” ~ Gary Francione

“The other animals we turn into food, turn into clothes, into performers – so called “tools” are unique somebodies, not generic somethings. They are not only in the world, but of the world. They are aware of what happens to them. And what happens to them makes a difference to their life. In these respects, other animals are just like you and I, just like human beings.” ~ Tom Regan

“Most of us are putting dead animals in our bodies from the moment we’re weaned. And most of us are conditioned to never stop and question and think about what or whom we’re putting in our mouths or bodies. Carnism is a special kind of belief system, it’s a dominant ideology, that means it’s invisible, it’s entrenched, it shapes beliefs, behaviors, norms, laws etc. It’s also a violent ideology, it’s literally organized around violence. Meat cannot be procured without killing. And dominant, violent ideologies need to use a set of social and psychological defense mechanisms to enable humane people to participate in inhumane practices without fully realizing or accepting what they are doing. In other words, Carnism teaches us how not to think and feel. When we believe we’re eating the flesh of a living cow we likely have no thought of a living animal …. So Carnism creates this gap in our consciousness, this disconnect in our consciousness where we’re not making the conscious connection between the meat on our plate and the living being it once was. Without awareness there is no free choice.” ~ Melanie Joy

“They are only born to serve one certain purpose to serve the needs of people as meat, and their interests are not being respected at all.” ~ Henrik

“There’s no reason to exploit one and love another. I couldn’t go on living doing these horrible things to these wonderful creatures.” ~ Jack Lindquist

“Social justice activists are being targeted because they raise a serious critique of our culture and they’re willing to act on it, their willing to put their bodies on the line, their freedom on the line, and they’re willing to do what they have to to put their beliefs into practice.” ~ Will Potter

Cast / Experts:

Jonathan Balcombe, Ethologist & Biologist
T. Colin Campbell, Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry
Melanie Joy, PhD, Sociologist & Psychologist
Matt Ruscigno, Dietitian & Past Chair, VnDPG, Vegetarian Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Will Potter, Journalist & Author ‘Green Is The New Red’
Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton
Jan Gerdes & Karin Mück, Founders of Hof Butenland Animal Sanctuary
Tom Regan, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
Robert Goodland, Tropical Ecologist, DC
Gary Francione, Distinguished Professor of Law, NJ
Kurt Schmidinger, Geophysicist & Food Scientist, Austria
George Rodger, Chair, The Vegan Society, UK
Aaron Adams, Chef, Portobello Trattoria, Portland, OR
Ria Rehberg & Hendrik HaBel, Animal Equality, Stuttgart, Germany
Lauren Ornelas, Food Empowerment Project, CA
Sharon Nuñez, Animal Equality, Madrid, Spain
Kati Kosler, Social Pedagogue & Vegan, Germany
Jack Lindquist, Professional Track Cyclist, CA
Neil Robinson, Vegan-Organic Farmer, Portland, OR
Suzanne Gura, Nutritionist, Germany