Pickle

The Short but Joyful Lives of Pets

Having grown up on a farm and being all too familiar with the cycle of life, I see far too many of the stories as simply portraying the couple as irresponsible and even lackadaisical in their animal husbandry practices. They may be somewhat sad and may take on some hard cases, but they habitually fail to learn from the tragedies and correct their environment. The quote “. . . most animals don’t live very long” is most certainly true with this couple! The concept of short lives for animals in the wild and animals raised for meat is most certainly accurate. Truly responsible and proactive pet owners shouldn’t have the same tragedies to tell over and over. The animals are in your charge hence you need to provide them with protection. One death by a predator could be deemed a tragedy. A second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. is neglect. If you have a fox in the area, you fence properly and put the animals in a predator-proof building overnight. If you have flying predators, you install overhead protection. I saw this short as providing justification for poor planning before taking on animal care and lack of corrective responses after tragedies. Definitely do NOT Recommend!

I just finished watching PICKLES and was captivated, start to finish. The endless stream of death while told matter-of-factly was infused with love, humor and a subtle sadness. I loved the undramatic humanity and liveliness of the unique couple that took in helpless strays, wherever they crossed paths. Recommend!

The subject of PICKLE is a morbid one: a couple recount the lives --but especially the deaths-- of their many adopted animals. But this little 15 minute short is packed with laughter and affection. Never dour or excessively mournful, PICKLE reminds us of the often tragic shortness of life while also emphasizing our capacity for love. One quote at the end of the film particularly stuck with me: "People think about animals as living forever but most animals don't live very long." It's a sad, stark statement, delivered in a matter of fact way. After all, death is life's one true promise, the single most certain thing. PICKLE teaches us not to fear death, but to instead take the ephemeral lives it gives to us and use them to care for others as much as we can.