If you thought the critical exposés into America's industrial agri-business were over, think again. First, we had "Supersize Me" (2004) which was a serious if somewhat humorous look into the fast-food industry, then we had a very similar (more serious, but less humorous) documentary "Fast Food Nation" (2006), followed by "King Corn" (2007) which examined a specific crop's impact on the nation's diet.
Today, another new movie called "Food Inc." premiers in selected theaters, and according to the movie's website this new documentary "exposes America's industrialized food system and its effect on our environment, health, economy and workers' rights." According to NPR, this film "takes aim at corporate giants behind the U.S. food supply. It makes a fierce argument for Americans to pay attention to where their food really comes from."
A preview can be seen here:
The filmmaker (and food advocate), Robert Kenner, features and builds on the testimony of authors Michael Pollan, who wrote "The Omnivore's Dilemma," and Eric Schlosser, who wrote the book "Fast Food Nation."
Although I haven't seen the movie (yet) ... but since it's raining this weekend, it might be a good time to catch this flick! I suspect it will be similarly as eye-opening as the others (already noted above) in this genre were. We can expect to see exactly what a factory farm looks like, as well as just how much growth hormones are used, and the impact that genetically-modified seeds has. NYC's NY1 reviewer says "Kenner does not rant, but rather connects the dots." 
I suspect it will be a good look beneath our current food-supply system, and as my local NY1 reviewer put it:
"A big-picture vision of corporate duplicity and control, 'Food, Inc.' is a hard movie to shake. Days after you've seen it, you'll find yourself eating something - a cookie, a piece of chicken, cereal out of the box, a perfectly round waxy tomato - and you'll realize you have virtually no idea what it actually is."
As is often the case, this will be an art-house movie, premiering in selected theaters in major cities around the country this week, followed by a broader distribution in the coming weeks, followed by a release on DVD later this year or perhaps early next year.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Another Movie Looks Into America's Food
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6 comments:
I thought The Omnivore's Dilemma was a fascinating read...if that's anything to go by, this sounds like a must-see. Thanks for the tip!
Scott-
I'm so excited to see this flick!
You and I are going to dish about this big time!
Kelly K
There are some things I just don't want to know about my food.
For example, I don't want to see it when a restaurant cook uses the restroom and doesn't wash his hands. I don't want to see when a waitress carries my glass of tea with her thumb sticking down into the tea. I don't want to see when the deli worker making sandwiches handles a customer's cash, and then goes to work on my sandwich, without washing his hands.
I know all these things happen. I just don't want to see them. I feel the same way about this film, if it's about stuff that's out of my control.
I hope my body can handle all this, but my mind doesn't need to deal with it too.
Well, my first comment is to Mr. Guac Diet guy. I think I agree, there are definitely things you don't want to know. For three summers in highschool, I worked at the Green Giant canning factory, which put the corn in the cans. I could tell you stories about the Niblets that would make your toes curl.............
I saw the movie today. Yes, it was intense. Particularly for me because my grandparents and uncles on both sides were farmers. My Norweigan immigrant granny had a big load of chickens in her fron tyard, free to roam as they pleased. They all had names, but each was fair game for supper. If unexpected company came, Herman or Edna or Bertha would be captured, taken out behind the milking parlour and their head chopped off on a tree stump. Viola, dinner. It was a bit traumatic for me to witness this, but so were the aspects of the company farms in the movie.
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