Vernon, Florida. Errol Morris, 1981.
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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #752, released 2015 and packaged with Gates of Heaven, #751. English language. Runtime approximately 56 minutes.
Summary: Sadistic entrapment of harmless animals, intercut with moronic descriptions of murdering turkeys.
Details: Beginning at 15:40 and continuing through 27:30, we see alternating interviews with two men who relate or demonstrate their lifelong commitment to animal torture. The first is an old fool who opens with a knee slapper about water contaminated by a dead mule causing the deaths of hundreds of stranded fish, hee-hee you shoulda seen ’em all a-flappin’ and a-dyin’. He then shows-off several poor animals imprisoned in tiny dark dungeons on his property. The second rustic is an especially idiotic turkey hunter who captivates with tales of the hunt, each concluding with a morbid trophy of the killed turkey.
These two men are seen other times in the film as well, but in those instances their abject stupidity is conveyed in ways other than direct spectacles of animal abuse.
To be clear, there is no blood, physical injury, or killing portrayed. It all is just very sad that these animals suffered at the hands of such complete imbeciles. To the director’s credit, his point clearly is to showcase the unbelievable stupidity of these men and other Vernon, Florida, townsfolk. Only their exact duplicates could watch the interviews and interpret the portrayals as genuine salt of the earth folks, real Americans. But they do. And they vote(d).