I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
There are half a million — or maybe more — abandoned and feral cats in New York City. This charming documentary introduces us to four volunteer animal lovers who are spending their own time and money trying to fix this inhumane situation in their own little corners of Brooklyn, some in conjunction with volunteer org Brooklyn Animal Action.
Sassee spends $500 a month on cat food and litter, and pays out-of-pocket to spay and neuter the strays she catches and releases. Stu “find[s] it almost an honor” being followed down the street by the homeless cats he feeds daily. Claire is astonished by how “friendly” the strays she encounters are. And Tara? Well, the cats she rescued actually saved her. (I’ll leave you to discover how.)
This Kickstarter-backed movie is, in many ways, the very epitome of the notion that we have to be the change we want to see in the world, in its depiction of a small-scale example of how the human relationship with nature damaged it, and the little things that can be done to make it all right again. (You don’t have to go wandering the streets rescuing strays to help. Spay and neuter your pets, folks! And don’t treat them as disposable toys.) Small acts go a very long way indeed… but The Cat Rescuers reminds us, too, that even the most devoted of cat lovers have limited financial and emotional resources, and so it gently advocates for the government support — which need only be quite minimal! — that could solve the problem for good.
This inspiring movie is a tiny, delicate metaphor for the reshaping of attitudes we as a planetary culture will need to make on the largest scale imaginable, and the effort we’ll need to expend to clean up enormous messes of our own making. It is a task, we may glean from The Cat Rescuers, that is not impossible, and comes with its own pleasant and soul-satisfying rewards.
