With Errol Morris’ most recent full-length documentary two years in the past and with no new film of his creeping above the horizon, Mark Lewis’ The Natural History of the Chicken performs suitably as a proxy. It’s hard not to draw comparisons between Morris’ films and Chicken, frankly: Chicken combines Vernon, Florida‘s meandering tone, reenactments a la The Thin Blue Line, and bright, vivid visuals that recall much of Mr. Death and Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. (The last of these three similarities is a gift from God given the state of current non-fiction cinema aesthetics.) And as obvious from the title, Chicken is about one of Morris’ pet topics, animals; Gates of Heaven and numerous episodes of Morris’ television series “First Person” have been about the creatures with which we share this planet. In fact, The Natural History of the Chicken is nearly a parody of Morris’ work but, well, without the parodistic parts.

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