Considering the Ends

80092, 90096, 90036, 70107. These numbers are for “my old mother of twins”, “the camel”, “little black one”, “my eldest on her last legs”—in other words, for all of the goats that Nathalie Savalois has chosen, observed, tamed, scolded, cared for, loved and now must say goodbye to. Meaning, bringing them to slaughter. Considering the Ends could have been called Goats and a Woman, in which a courageous, unpaid and inexperienced goatherder learns from situations on the fly (injured goat, aggressive male, lethargic newborn lamb, etc.) and about how to care for her animals until the end. Elsa Maury follows her without complacency as she speaks to her goats, learns to listen to her herd and longs for another kind of death for them. “We could try to make these moments more beautiful, more peaceful. Outside, in the scrubland, surrounded by psoralea, Phyllanthus, madder or cocksfoot, by juniper and thyme…” At a time when, both in France and in Belgium, animal slaughter on farms is banned with emergency situations or personal consumption as the only two exceptions, this documentary asks us to pay close attention to the “privilege” of not needing to go to the slaughterhouse.

Professor at the Media School, UQAM
Co-director of the journal Frontières