- Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home explores the powerful struggle of conscience experienced by several people from traditional farming backgrounds who come to question the basic assumptions of their way of life. A riveting story of transformation and healing, the documentary portrays the farmers' sometimes amazing connections with the animals under their care, while also providing insight into the complex web of social, psychological and economic forces that have led to their inner conflict. Interwoven with the farmers' stories is the dramatic animal rescue work of a newly-trained humane police officer whose sense of justice puts her at odds with the law she is charged to uphold. With strikingly honest interviews and rare footage demonstrating the emotional lives and intense family bonds of animals most often viewed as living commodities, this groundbreaking documentary shatters stereotypical notions of farmers, farm life, and perhaps most surprisingly, farm animals themselves.
- Released on February 29, 2004, Peaceable Kingdom was pulled from distribution by Tribe of Heart on July 7, 2005, due to an irresolvable ethical conflict between the filmmakers and one of the film's subjects. In the years that followed, what began as an effort to quickly revise and re-release the film evolved into a more extensive project. On September 26, 2009, the filmmakers debuted their new documentary, titled "Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home," which offers a more nuanced exploration of moral conflicts experienced by those who grow up in farm culture, as well as rare footage depicting the family bonds and emotional lives of farm animals. It also includes five new film subjects: former farmers Cheri Ezell-Vandersluis, Jim Vandersluis and Willow Jeane Lyman, and animal rescuers Cayce Mell and Jason Tracy. The stories of two of the original film's subjects, former farmers Howard Lyman and Harold Brown, are also included and expanded upon in the new film. "Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home" was released on DVD in the Summer of 2012.
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