The BRWC Review: Carnage, Swallowing The Past

3rd April 2017

It’s 2067; the world is peaceful. The world is perfect. The world has outlawed meat and dairy. Welcome to a world where animals have human rights and older generations struggle with the guilt of a barbaric ‘carnist’ world where people ate meat. This is the plot of Simon Amstell’s first feature length mockumentary set in a vegan future investigating the world’s barbaric omnivorous past.

Carnage: Swallowing the Past is manifesto, and despite apologising for its open message, Amstell has created a unique, entertaining and oddly convincing piece of propaganda for veganism. Mocking both veganism and the rise of populist science and ‘experiment television’ Carnage revolves around two aspects, firstly Dr Yasmin Vondenburgen’s (Linda Bassett) attempts to relieve the guilt felt by former ‘carnists’ in a world where vegans are the norm and those who ate meat are vilified. It’s second theme focuses on the rise of the vegan movement led by Troyte King Jones (John MacMillan) and Freddy Jayashanka (Mawaan Rizwan) allowing Amstell to mock two genres at once.

Mockingly teaching us that we only eat meat because we ‘don’t know any better’ is a unique way to go about this. It works particularly well when matched with Amstell’s natural and hilarious brand of self-deprecating comedy it allows him to mock the approach of the vegan cause as much as those who eat meat. Amstell’s documentary incorporates some big names into its cast including Linday Duncan (Birdman, Rome) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Sherlock Holmes), and whilst mockumentaries always struggle to bring something new to the table by their very nature, the skill with which Amstell has created a believable and plausible fictional world, but also matched perfectly the tone of television science is astounding.

Despite being propaganda at its core, much like Snowden (except better) Amstell creates both an entertaining piece of comedy and a convincing piece. Although I won’t be becoming vegan anytime soon, I would watch this mockumentary again and I’ll certainly be looking for Amstell’s next venture into feature film.

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