1 00:00:09,743 --> 00:00:12,712 BLOOD OF THE BEASTS 2 00:00:17,283 --> 00:00:19,410 Narration Written by JEAN PAINLEVE 3 00:00:20,587 --> 00:00:22,714 Narrated by GEORGES HUBERT and NICOLE LADMIRAL 4 00:00:45,178 --> 00:00:47,806 Written and Directed by GEORGES FRANJU 5 00:00:52,652 --> 00:00:55,780 AT THE GATES OF PARIS 6 00:01:04,497 --> 00:01:08,228 On the outskirts of Paris, the vacant lots where poor children play 7 00:01:08,935 --> 00:01:12,029 are scattered with unique relics of riches past. 8 00:01:12,739 --> 00:01:15,037 Displayed and offered for the delight 9 00:01:15,575 --> 00:01:19,705 of curio seekers, poets and strolling lovers 10 00:01:19,813 --> 00:01:22,441 here, on the edge of city life, amid trucks and trains. 11 00:02:53,540 --> 00:02:57,499 At Porte de Vanves is the Vaugiraud slaughterhouse. 12 00:02:58,711 --> 00:03:01,339 Despite the taurine statues, 13 00:03:01,447 --> 00:03:05,281 the municipal slaughterhouse specializes in the slaughter of horses. 14 00:03:05,385 --> 00:03:08,843 IN HONOR OF EMILE DECROIX PROPONENT OF HORSE MEAT 15 00:03:11,224 --> 00:03:13,522 The tools used vary according to the animal... 16 00:03:13,626 --> 00:03:15,753 the rush, or reed... 17 00:03:15,862 --> 00:03:17,762 the poleax... 18 00:03:19,132 --> 00:03:24,092 the captive-bolt pistol, whose impact kills the animal instantly. 19 00:04:18,024 --> 00:04:21,824 After being bled, the horse is hoisted up to complete the draining of blood. 20 00:04:23,529 --> 00:04:26,157 It is then lowered for flaying. 21 00:04:41,881 --> 00:04:46,181 Compressed air is pumped under the skin to make the task easier. 22 00:04:50,023 --> 00:04:52,890 The feet are detached and removed. 23 00:04:53,593 --> 00:04:55,493 The hooves will become fertilizer, 24 00:04:55,595 --> 00:04:59,531 and the bones will be made into bone black 25 00:04:59,632 --> 00:05:01,725 or ladies' toiletries. 26 00:05:04,604 --> 00:05:09,064 The delicate task of flaying with a razor-sharp lancet 27 00:05:09,175 --> 00:05:10,767 is not without danger. 28 00:05:10,877 --> 00:05:14,335 While flaying a horse, Ernest Bruyet severed his femoral artery. 29 00:05:15,214 --> 00:05:18,149 His right leg had to be amputated. 30 00:05:45,111 --> 00:05:47,841 This black horse was slaughtered by Alfred Macquart, 31 00:05:47,947 --> 00:05:50,347 a holder of the prestigious "Best Worker in France"diploma. 32 00:05:50,450 --> 00:05:52,918 Auguste Macquart, his grandfather, 33 00:05:53,019 --> 00:05:56,318 was a founding father of meatpacking at the turn of the last century. 34 00:06:15,375 --> 00:06:17,104 On the outskirts of Paris, 35 00:06:17,210 --> 00:06:19,838 the Ourcq canal and the Wheels of Fortune. 36 00:07:23,209 --> 00:07:26,337 Porte de Pantin, the La Villette market. 37 00:07:41,060 --> 00:07:44,393 The slaughterhouse is linked to the market by a bridge 38 00:07:44,497 --> 00:07:46,692 to transfer the cattle. 39 00:08:03,249 --> 00:08:06,412 In the deafening din of pneumatic hoists, 40 00:08:06,953 --> 00:08:10,184 the slaughterers and scalders work 41 00:08:10,289 --> 00:08:13,224 in the gray steam rising from the blood of the beasts. 42 00:08:23,569 --> 00:08:27,369 Maurice Griselle, former French boxing champion. 43 00:08:38,818 --> 00:08:42,618 Andre Brunier, one of the best poleaxers in the Villette. 44 00:08:54,467 --> 00:08:57,698 Inserting the reed into the medullary canal 45 00:08:57,803 --> 00:09:02,433 pierces and destroys the spinal cord, suppressing the animal's reflexes. 46 00:09:35,775 --> 00:09:37,675 The pressing completes the draining of the blood, 47 00:09:37,777 --> 00:09:40,245 most of which is collected in containers. 48 00:09:54,860 --> 00:09:57,328 Gutters catch the overflow. 49 00:12:21,507 --> 00:12:26,809 Disembowelment is performed while the hoist is raised. 50 00:12:32,184 --> 00:12:35,153 The fatty scraps will be collected by nuns. 51 00:13:11,056 --> 00:13:15,516 Henri Fournel can split an ox while the clock strikes noon. 52 00:14:41,814 --> 00:14:47,616 To keep veal meat white, decapitation is used to drain all blood. 53 00:15:17,850 --> 00:15:23,379 The dead animal still twitches, but they're only involuntary reflexes. 54 00:15:58,590 --> 00:16:03,721 The heads are stamped to identify and count the cattle. 55 00:17:02,788 --> 00:17:07,157 This isn't a chapel to St. John the Baptist, patron saint of butchers, 56 00:17:07,860 --> 00:17:10,488 nor to his gentle lamb. 57 00:17:10,596 --> 00:17:12,723 It's the auction block of the slaughterhouse. 58 00:17:14,767 --> 00:17:18,828 The sheep are led by the "traitor"... 59 00:17:18,937 --> 00:17:22,065 He knows the way, and his life will be spared. 60 00:17:23,609 --> 00:17:27,841 The others follow obediently, bleating 61 00:17:27,946 --> 00:17:31,780 like condemned men who sing yet know their song to be useless. 62 00:18:32,044 --> 00:18:34,842 To be skinned, the sheep are "punched." 63 00:18:36,181 --> 00:18:41,983 Years of this difficult task can lead to a cyst on the worker's wrist. 64 00:18:55,267 --> 00:18:59,829 "I shall strike you without anger and without hate, like a butcher, " 65 00:18:59,938 --> 00:19:01,599 wrote Baudelaire. 66 00:19:02,141 --> 00:19:03,938 Without anger, without hate, 67 00:19:04,042 --> 00:19:08,172 with the simple cheerfulness of killers who whistle or sing as they slit throats, 68 00:19:08,881 --> 00:19:12,840 for they must earn their own daily bread and that of others 69 00:19:12,951 --> 00:19:16,910 with the wages of a difficult and often dangerous profession. 70 00:19:17,456 --> 00:19:21,586 The sea we see dancing 71 00:19:21,693 --> 00:19:25,720 Along the bright bays 72 00:19:25,831 --> 00:19:31,633 The silvery glints of the sea 73 00:19:31,737 --> 00:19:37,698 Reflections changing in the rain 74 00:19:38,410 --> 00:19:41,243 The sea 75 00:19:41,346 --> 00:19:43,644 In the summer sky 76 00:19:43,749 --> 00:19:47,378 The clouds like fleecy sheep 77 00:19:48,587 --> 00:19:52,045 Seem angels on high 78 00:19:52,424 --> 00:19:53,823 The sea 79 00:19:54,526 --> 00:20:00,522 Shepherdess of infiinite blue 80 00:20:01,066 --> 00:20:03,330 See 81 00:20:03,869 --> 00:20:09,671 By the pond The tall, damp reeds 82 00:20:10,709 --> 00:20:12,336 See 83 00:20:13,045 --> 00:20:19,245 The white birds The rusting houses 84 00:20:19,952 --> 00:20:21,920 The sea 85 00:20:22,020 --> 00:20:23,817 The day is ending. 86 00:20:24,656 --> 00:20:29,491 In the pen, the sheep, still agitated, will fall asleep in the silence. 87 00:20:30,028 --> 00:20:34,260 They won't hear the gates of their prison closing, 88 00:20:34,366 --> 00:20:36,596 nor the Paris-Villette train, 89 00:20:36,702 --> 00:20:39,500 which sets off after nightfall for the countryside 90 00:20:39,605 --> 00:20:41,232 to gather tomorrow's victims.