The Natural History of the Chicken
The Natural History of the Chicken
| 01 April 2000 (USA)
The Natural History of the Chicken Trailers

Through interviews and reenactments, The Natural History of the Chicken investigates the role of the chicken in American life and tells several remarkable stories. A Maine farmer says she found a chicken frozen stiff, but was able to resuscitate it. Colorado natives tell a story of the chicken who lost its head-- and went on living. A Virginia farmer tells about (and demonstrates) the benefits of raising chickens for his own consumption. Perhaps most surprising is the case of the Florida woman: she bathes her pet bird, and takes it both swimming and shopping. Through these and other stories, this documentary illuminates the role that chickens play in (some of) our lives.

Reviews
Tacticalin An absolute waste of money
Spoonixel Amateur movie with Big budget
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
framptonhollis This is the best possible way you could make a documentary film about chickens. Rather than being a dull, bland, and boring film with a narrator whose voice sounds miserable, you get a bright, quirky, heartwarming and zany look at human eccentricity and the chicken's more interesting and surprisingly intelligent behavior.From a woman who is seen carrying her pet chicken in her pocket book while buying groceries to a man, hilariously, doing impressions of the various calls of chickens to the story of a living headless chicken, this documentary is consistently entertaining and well made. It actually gets even more bizarre than the two early Errol Morris films ("Gates of Heaven" and "Vernon Florida")!The film isn't about the history of chickens at all. I mean, nothing in this film is historical, therefore making "The Natural History of Chickens" a pretty misleading title. So if you're looking for an ACTUAL history of chickens, then you probably shouldn't watch the film. However, if you want to see a really funny and weird doc that is sure to entertain and amuse, this one's totally for you!
gavin6942 This short documentary is full of interesting characters.A Maine farmer says she found a chicken frozen stiff, but was able to resuscitate it. Colorado natives tell a story of the chicken who lost its head -- and went on living. A Virginia farmer tells about (and demonstrates) the benefits of raising chickens for his own consumption. Perhaps most surprising is the case of the Florida woman: she bathes her pet bird, and takes it both swimming and shopping.The unfortunate part of this show is that it really seems to have no central narrative other than to be a few stories about chickens. One, the headless chicken named Mike, was rather fascinating and probably deserved more time. The film as a whole disappointed me, though, in part because the title is misleading: rather than a history of how chickens became domesticated and such a crucial part of modern humanity, such things are not even vaguely alluded to.
ofp857 It's a great little film! I'm so happy to have worked on it!! When we shot this film, out in Sacramento, at the Cal Expo fair, it was sooooo hot! But you know seeing the results, well it was well worth the torture of the heat! :)I wish I could do it all over again!When we saw the offices at UC Davis, CA, now that was cool too!We got to see so much that you don't get to check out on any normal day!Have fun with this video everyone!!Gabe de Kelaita! :)
Ellen This little film is honestly quite captivating. The cinematography is so artistic, and the content is quirky, interesting, and entertaining. I appreciate that it juxtaposes the free-range chicken existence with the mass marketed chicken hatcheries. Yet it doesn't hammer on the viewer that it's wrong to eat chicken. It simply shows the interesting characters that can be found in chickens, and the people who care about them. I think it gives a very healthy viewpoint regarding appreciating them as creatures, and yet allowing us the right to eat them as well. The editing is quite good, well paced.This film is wonderful! If you like the movie Babe (the first one), you will be fond of this project.