We open on a classic Western scene—cowboys and cattle roaming the range against a Rocky Mountains backdrop. What comes after is less romantic. Meat tracks the transformation of animals into consumer commodities, from the feedlot where rations are calculated by computer; to the packing plant where specialized assembly-line workers quickly, monotonously kill, skin, and disembowel; to the office where jocular salesmen wheel and deal in parts and poundage and union reps negotiate their contracts. The slaughterhouse images are graphic, but their effect is less shocking than quietly surreal. Where viewers might expect an outraged exposé, Frederick Wiseman offers instead a clear-eyed contemplation of a weirdly efficient business.