Pecking Order is a New Zealand flockumentary (their word).

There are too many potential chicken puns for this sub-line, I gave up.

Ant
Ant
Aug 27, 2017 · 4 min read

In 2017’s Pecking Order, we travel to New Zealand’s South Island to Christchurch. In the back of a community centre, on the same night the table tennis players meet, the members of the Christchurch Poultry, Bantam & Pigeon Club gather. Everyone seems highly strung.

And it isn’t just because of the upcoming NZ National Show, where their birds line up for the judges in a bid for fame, fortune, and glory. No. The club is plotting a coup against the president. The 148-year-old Christchurch institution is in jeopardy, in the lead-up to the biggest event of the year.

Pecking Order is all about getting to know a… “sporting” community, for want of a better word. And like all sporting communities, it’s packed full of colourful characters and controversies. Including, but not limited to:

  • Doug Bain, the President of the Christchurch Poultry, Bantam & Pigeon Club. At first he appears to be a sweet old man, but in reality he rules the club with an iron fist. At the first hint of a coup he lets fly like Mussolini from the balcony.
  • Marina Steinke, a German woman who loves her chickens, but isn’t afraid to get fiery when it comes to what’s best for the club. She’s one of the first to attempt to usurp Doug, and a line is immediately drawn between the two of them.
  • Rhys Lilley, a young rat-tail-haired chicken fancier savant who wants to make his name in the game. He doesn’t have much to do with the politics of it all. He and his father Mark are in it for the chickens, man.
  • Brian Glassey, a very single-minded chicken fancier who is spoken about in legend by members of other clubs. He gets four hours of sleep a night and seems to spend every waking moment looking after his chooks.
  • Ian Selby. The man wrote the book on NZ Poultry Standards. Literally— it’s called NZ Poultry Standards (3rd Edition) by Ian Selby. He’s an academic, a numbers man with shelves and shelves of data at home. He’s also judge, jury, and executioner at the NZ National Show.

We follow the Christchurch Poultry, Bantam & Pigeon Club through the highs and lows of getting ready for the most important competition of the year.

As I’ve said before, I love documentaries that give you little insight into communities you knew nothing about. We all watch The Oscars, The Olympics, we know how much work goes into those. But there’s a whole community of people in a tiny island nation dedicated to raising the best chickens they can. And it’s serious business.

Take the judging. It’s a detail game. One stray feather or over-arched brow can knock a bird out of the competition. There are as many as 450–500 birds in each category, and the judges go through each category with a fine-toothed comb. Black Pekin Bantams must have a slight green tinge to the feathers when held under sunlight — any purple is a no-no. They have to be nearly ball-shaped when placed on the ground, and if all else fails, the subtleties of eye colour can be a tie-breaker.

And of course, the actual club itself is in strife, with a power vacuum after Doug resigns in a huff. All of that threatens to filter up to the competition itself, with concerns around boycotting, bias, and even chicken poisoning.

The documentary has a quirky tone, but it’s never outright mocking. Which is as it should be — why is dedicating your life to raising chickens with beautiful plumage any different than dedicating your life to, say, pole vaulting? Really the only difference is that chickens are inherently kind of funny. Most of the people we meet in the documentary are self-aware enough to see the inherent silliness, though that doesn’t alter their determination.

In fact, I would prefer Pecking Order to be even more straight-faced, and let the odd nature of the subject matter speak for itself. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good chicken pun. But the punny titles between acts aren’t necessary.

Pecking Order isn’t one of the great documentaries of the 2010s that’s driving social change, but it’s damn charming and worth tracking down.

Every Day Is Movies

I watch a movie every day in 2017, then write about each one. It seems like a good idea here in 2016.

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Ant

Written by

Ant

Every Day Is Movies

I watch a movie every day in 2017, then write about each one. It seems like a good idea here in 2016.

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