"Milk Men" explores the rarely seen world of dairy farming, showing us the everyday relationships between the farmer, their family, and their cows with warmth and realism, which in turn reveals the larger truths of the complicated dairy industry. Director Jan Haaken introduces us to four farming families and depicts the struggle of the dairy farmer today with nuance. Examining the financial, technological and industrial challenges of an industry that has been both demonized by animal rights groups and romanticized in images of red barns and pastures dotted with black and white cows, this film shows how changing times have put dairy farms in a particularly vulnerable situation – the small farm is a dying breed among its consolidating neighbors. Captivating aerial images give an extraordinary comparison between large and small farming operations and beautifully filmed farm work shows feed, muck and cows from the neutrality of a farmer's perspective. As the film explores farming culture, we see that perhaps no generational rift is as prominent and challenging as those where the future of the family farm is on the line. At the heart of this film is Haaken's ability to build trusting relationships with her subjects, allowing them to speak candidly from their perspective, and "Milk Men"'s strongest moments may be when there are glimpses of the painful, evolving relationships between sons, daughters and parents struggling to find common ground for the future of the farm. At times, what makes this film the most compelling is its empathetic and honest depiction of the farmers' pride in their heritage and their determined strides to preserve that heritage in the ever-changing world. Full of death and life, and leaving lingering questions about the nature of progress and the responsibilities of the next generation, "Milk Men" is educational and heartfelt, thoughtful and intimate, and gives us a lot more appreciation for the complex origins of a glass of milk.