Witnessing The Witness: A Powerful, Moving Experience Quite simply, The Witness is the best film I've yet seen on the topic of animal advocacy. Never condescending or didactic, the documentary is a straightforward representation of not only the utter cruelty of the fur industry, but also an honest depiction of one man's journey within, to a self he is continually amazed to find out existed. As Eddie Lama, the New York-based contracter, activist and subject of the film, describes his background, it's clear that he was not raised to have any particular affection for animals. On the contrary, animals as a whole were considered squalid and so ignoble that they were unworthy of any special consideration. In addition to this, Eddie grew up in an especially violent section of Brooklyn, in a place where it was considered macho to torment and abuse animals. While he didn't hurt animals himself, he didn't pay them any special mind. That is, until a kitten entered his life. The kitten he got to know was his first step toward recognizing animals as creatures that possessed the capacity of feeling contentment or fear, pain or bliss. Through the evolution that followed, Eddie began to question presumptions he and most people accept unchallenged as The Way Things Are, and he began to make associations from his own life and apply them to how an animal might feel. He asked himself one simple but life-altering question: "Certainly I've felt pain and helplessness in my life; why wouldn't another creature"? From there he asked himself whether it would matter if the creature were a kitten, armadillo, pig or lizard. Are our assumptions about the worth of another being based on the truth or on the self-serving lies we allow ourselves to believe? Without revealing too much about the film, I will say that, yes, there is violent and deeply wrenching footage of animals suffering. Yes, nearly everyone who watches this movie will cry. Yes, there are images from this film that I wish I could expunge from my memory. Would I take a moment back? No. This movie can change your life. This remarkable film, ostensibly about the fur industry, is really about transcendence, redemption and, at its core, the discovery and understanding of love. It is about the power within all of us to become empowered and do what we believe in because we can't not do it. What is miraculous about The Witness is that it's a movie about the fur industry that makes you feel something entirely unexpected: it makes you feel hopeful. Please buy this video and show it everyone you can. MR See Marla's interview with the director and producer of The Witness, Jenny Stein and James LaVeck.