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Our Daily Bread
  • Release Date: Nov 24, 2006
Metascore
86 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 10 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    100
    Despite this lack of narration, Our Daily Bread never fails to enthrall because of the impeccable eye -- for composition, for color, for movement within the frame -- of filmmaker Geyrhalter.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    100
    Nikolaus Geyrhalter's superb documentary is an unblinking, often disturbing look at industrial food production from field to factory.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    91
    What the activist drama "Fast Food Nation" does with talk and the aid of movie stars, Our Daily Bread, a riveting documentary by Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter, does even better, with no voice-over and barely a word spoken by the unidentified workers involved in matter-of-fact killing and harvesting.
  4. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    88
    This critic found much to digest (pun barely intended), with thoughts of FDA politics and standard practices, the ritualism and sacrifice of our own species, why baby animals are considered protectable innocents (and inversely, grown steaks-to-be just a fact of life), plus, on a meta level, how people's dietary philosophies will inform their reactions to the work.
  5. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    83
    Difficult to sit through, Our Daily Bread is nonetheless an important record, invaluable for those with the courage to watch it.
  6. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    80
    An eye-opener that handles its themes in a refreshingly nonexploitative manner.
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Leslie Felperin
    80
    Looks at the agricultural industry across Europe through sound and images alone. Pic offers a tabula rasa in which some auds will see a horrifying indictment of the industry's cruelties, others a realistic depiction of mechanized farming, and some a soft-spoken tribute to manual labor. Meanwhile, precisely composed lensing and painstaking sound design create moments of sublime beauty.
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    A thought-provoking documentary that would go well on a double bill with Richard Linklater's fictional "Fast Food Nation."
  9. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    75
    It's as much conceptual art as dispassionate survey of the bloodless assembly line nature of the modern food industry, all process and work, automation and repetition.
  10. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    67
    The non-sensationalized "this is what really happens" approach makes Our Daily Bread extra-creepy at times.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. PoppyR.
    9
    A stark and meditative look at the industry of European food production. The pace of the film imitates the mechanistic, sterile, cold process the harvest has become in today's alienated world. The viewer is allowed ample opportunity to ponder the question: when living under a system that makes every head of lettuce, cow, or factory worker a mere example of their category of being, are there significant differences between these lives? When a life is predetermined in its totalized relationship to the whole of the system is the only remaining choice whether or not to take pleasure in the hypnotic rhythm of the well-oiled machinery? More documentaries should so simply inspire critical reflection on the status of modern living as this one does.… Full Review »
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