Creature Comforts (1989) - full transcript
Off camera, with her microphone in view, an interviewer asks creatures at the zoo to talk about how they like their accommodations, what's good and what's bad, and what they miss about their old land. The animals interviewed include a family of polar bears - the youngest of whom likes it there, a large Brazilian cat (who misses the space and the heat of the Amazon), an ape who's a bit bored, a lemur, a turtle who reads for escape, and a chicken who compares her life favorably to the lives of her sisters in the circus. They talk about what they eat, their cramped and smelly quarters, and the technology of zoo life. They're thoughtful, philosophical, and reasoned.
Sound running, when you're ready!
Emh, well the zoo is very important to animals,
they're a bit like homes, like nursing camps,
and for poor animals and... emh...
...people like old people.
And there is old people which are...
...dead, and people in the wild have..
don't have much to eat so they have to kill their own people,
to have something to eat.
Oh, it's very very good, very good...
very comfortable, you know?
We have well looked after us and's a nice position.
They try to make you comfortable,
they try to put you in a...
a quite nice situation, with the standart food,
that look more like dog food,
than food proper for wild animals,
alright?
Well... emh... most of the cages are a bit small and...
grossy and erverything ***...
big pools to play arround and there's lots of in there,
they looked really happy.
There *** comfortable, I suppose, this place but... emh...
...emh...
...I mean,
I've been in more comfortable rooms, yes...
If you try to compare, the situations and the environment that we live in here
with the environment that we live in Brazil,
there's a big difference. HERE,
you live in a very small place
with all the technological advances possible.
You have... eh... everything sorted out,
double glasing, and you know,
you're heating and everything in Brasil,
but you don't have the space!
In Brasil you have the space
although you don't have all this technological,
you know, double glasing and things like that...
...you know... but you have the space and... eh...
we need a space to live,
we need a space to feel that we are part of the world,
and not a kind of a piece of object in a box!
My room is a bit too small to me,
Ive got so much stuff in that.
If I'd get anything new, *** put it.
Well, sonetimes you can't get out on *** as much as you would like to.
You're stuck in for some reason, like I'm stuck in today.
And then yes, you ged fed up with your *** four walls.
I try to spend as little time in here as possible,
but you can't actually get out ***.
I use to escape into books and things.
I feel very secure.
I'm well looked after, very well looked after,
and I've... I'm never worried about anything.
I know, whatever happens, they look after me,
and put me where I hope to be.
I think they'd like it in the wild if they were in the wild,
but I think it's much better to be in... emh...
...***, because, like those said, they get fed,
there was some animals, they go for days without food!
Because animals in the circus, they have to... emh...
get on boxes and ***...
But animals in the zoo, they don't have to do anything.
They can do their own things like...
...drinking and eating.
I miss somewhat of the food,
I miss the fresh meat! You know,
because in Brasil we are predominantely carnivores.
We are not, you know, vegetarian!
And we don't like potatoes, we like meat!
And we like fresh meat!
My favorite food is, I'm afraid to say, steak!
I'd go...
...Emh, do you like lions...
...emh... do you like lions as well then?
Do you like steaks and chips with lions with it?
Not with lions, Andrew, no. I don't like lions steak,
I prefer the ordinary steak.
I'd like to live somewhere a bit hotter.
I don't like getting rained on and I don't like being cold.
And I find that here I often get rained on and I'm often cold...
Where I would like to leave and spend the rest of my live?
In a hot country!! You know, in a hot country,
that I have good weather,
and that I have space and that I have trees, you know?
That I don't have only grass,
with ballings that give me hayfever everyday!!
I need space with blue sky, without... that I can see the sun everyday,
alright?
That I have nice weather,
that I can just have nice water,
you know, to dive, to swimming,
it means a tropical country!
Not in an island,
a cold one!
Is easy, any part of the world, but hot!
Name it, and I go!
Emh, well the zoo is very important to animals,
they're a bit like homes, like nursing camps,
and for poor animals and... emh...
...people like old people.
And there is old people which are...
...dead, and people in the wild have..
don't have much to eat so they have to kill their own people,
to have something to eat.
Oh, it's very very good, very good...
very comfortable, you know?
We have well looked after us and's a nice position.
They try to make you comfortable,
they try to put you in a...
a quite nice situation, with the standart food,
that look more like dog food,
than food proper for wild animals,
alright?
Well... emh... most of the cages are a bit small and...
grossy and erverything ***...
big pools to play arround and there's lots of in there,
they looked really happy.
There *** comfortable, I suppose, this place but... emh...
...emh...
...I mean,
I've been in more comfortable rooms, yes...
If you try to compare, the situations and the environment that we live in here
with the environment that we live in Brazil,
there's a big difference. HERE,
you live in a very small place
with all the technological advances possible.
You have... eh... everything sorted out,
double glasing, and you know,
you're heating and everything in Brasil,
but you don't have the space!
In Brasil you have the space
although you don't have all this technological,
you know, double glasing and things like that...
...you know... but you have the space and... eh...
we need a space to live,
we need a space to feel that we are part of the world,
and not a kind of a piece of object in a box!
My room is a bit too small to me,
Ive got so much stuff in that.
If I'd get anything new, *** put it.
Well, sonetimes you can't get out on *** as much as you would like to.
You're stuck in for some reason, like I'm stuck in today.
And then yes, you ged fed up with your *** four walls.
I try to spend as little time in here as possible,
but you can't actually get out ***.
I use to escape into books and things.
I feel very secure.
I'm well looked after, very well looked after,
and I've... I'm never worried about anything.
I know, whatever happens, they look after me,
and put me where I hope to be.
I think they'd like it in the wild if they were in the wild,
but I think it's much better to be in... emh...
...***, because, like those said, they get fed,
there was some animals, they go for days without food!
Because animals in the circus, they have to... emh...
get on boxes and ***...
But animals in the zoo, they don't have to do anything.
They can do their own things like...
...drinking and eating.
I miss somewhat of the food,
I miss the fresh meat! You know,
because in Brasil we are predominantely carnivores.
We are not, you know, vegetarian!
And we don't like potatoes, we like meat!
And we like fresh meat!
My favorite food is, I'm afraid to say, steak!
I'd go...
...Emh, do you like lions...
...emh... do you like lions as well then?
Do you like steaks and chips with lions with it?
Not with lions, Andrew, no. I don't like lions steak,
I prefer the ordinary steak.
I'd like to live somewhere a bit hotter.
I don't like getting rained on and I don't like being cold.
And I find that here I often get rained on and I'm often cold...
Where I would like to leave and spend the rest of my live?
In a hot country!! You know, in a hot country,
that I have good weather,
and that I have space and that I have trees, you know?
That I don't have only grass,
with ballings that give me hayfever everyday!!
I need space with blue sky, without... that I can see the sun everyday,
alright?
That I have nice weather,
that I can just have nice water,
you know, to dive, to swimming,
it means a tropical country!
Not in an island,
a cold one!
Is easy, any part of the world, but hot!
Name it, and I go!